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What are the Puranas ?
This is the story of the Vishnu Purana. But before we talk about the
Vishnu Purana, wouldn’t you like to know what the Puranas themselves
are? The word purana means old or ancient. Thus the Puranas are old and
ancient texts that have come down to us through the ages. They have stories
about famous people and descriptions of religion and society of those times.
In common belief, the Puranas are thought to have been written by rishis or
sages. They are, therefore, regarded as sacred, coming only after the two
epics of the Ramayana and the Mahabharata as receptacles of all that is
holy to Hinduism. There is also a common expression that the Puranas are
the fifth Veda, in addition to the four that are well-known.
The definition of a Purana is, in fact, quite precise. To be considered a
proper Purana, a text has to cover five subjects. These are known as the
five lakshanas or characteristics of a Purana. What are these five subjects?
A Purana must firstly describe the primary creation of the universe; this is
known as sarga. But once the universe is created, it is periodically
destroyed and created again. A Purana must secondly describe this process
of periodic destruction and creation; this is known as pratisarga. Do you
know what a genealogy is? It is a family tree. A Purana must thirdly list out
the genealogies of gods and saints, this is known as vamsha. Fourthly, a
Purana must catalogue the various manvantaras, that is, the many different
eras that the earth or the universe has passed through. And finally, a Purana
must have a history of the royal dynasties, vamshanucharita. What really is
meant by this is, of course, the histories of the solar and the lunar dynasties.
Around this core skeleton of the five subjects, any Purana normally
contains matters of religious concern, customs, ceremonies, sacrifices,
festivals, duties of the various castes, different types of donations, details of
the constructions of temples and images and descriptions of places of
pilgrimage.
How many Puranas are there? How many texts contain the five
subjects that were mentioned earlier? I wish there was a simple answer.
Everyone agrees that there are eighteen major Puranas, also known as
mahapuranas. But there is some disagreement about which Puranas should
be included in this list of eighteen. Most people would probably agree that
the major eighteen Puranas are the following Brahma, Padma, Vishnu,
Shiva, Bhagavata, Narada, Markandeya, Agni, Bhavishya, Brahmavaivarta,
Linga, Varaha, Skanda, Vamana, Kurma, Matsya, Garuda and Brahmanda.
The Vishnu Purana is thus a fairly Important Purana. It is normally listed
third in the list of major Puranas. Apart from the mahapuranas, there are
also eighteen minor or upapuranas. But about this list also, there is very
little of unanimity.
There are two ways in which the eighteen major Puranas are
sometimes further classified. Both of these classifications seem to be a little
bit artificial. What does the Hindu Trinity consist of ? It consists of Brahma,
Vishnu and Shiva. But some Puranas ascribe primary importance to
Brahma, others to Vishnu and still others to Shiva. Could the eighteen
mahapuranas not be classified according to this? The trouble with doing
this is that no Purana has come down to us in its original form. Therefore,
different sects and followers of different gods have continued to add their
own beliefs to the original text. Thus a Purana that may originally have
exalted Brahma, will now contain exaltations of Vishnu and Shiva. In this
sense, no Purana ascribes complete importance to only Brahma, or to only
Vishnu, or to only Shiva. That is why this classification is artificial. But if
this classification is to be made, the Vishnu Purana would be one of the six
mahapuranas that exalt Vishnu. The other five that do so are Bhagavata,
Narada, Garuda, Padma and Varaha.
There is another way of classifying the mahapuranas and this seems to
be even more artificial. This is in terms of the three major qualities of
existence. May be you have heard of these qualities, also known as gunas.
They are goodness or sattva, darkness or tamas and passion or rajas. Some
Puranas attach importance to sattva, others to tamas and still others to
rajas. The Vishnu Purana attaches importance to sattva, as do Bhagavata,
Narada, Garuda, Padma and Varaha.
When were the Puranas written and by whom? Again, there is no
simple answer. Originally, there was probably only one Purana and all the
other Puranas developed from this original Purana. Naturally these
developments did not take place overnight and must have taken years and
years to be completed. Most scholars would date the writing down of the
Puranas, in their present form, to between 400 A.D. and 1000 A.D. The
Vishnu Purana was probably one of the earlier ones to be composed.
Who wrote the Puranas ? Tradition says that it was Vedavyasa, the sage
who wrote the Mahabharata. By the way, I do hope you know that the word
Vedavyasa is really something like a title, it is not a proper name.
Vedavyasa simply means someone who divided the Vedas. And tradition
says that there have been twenty-eight people who have assumed the title of
Vedavyasa till now. The first of these was Brahma. And the twenty-eighth
was Krishna Dvaipayana Vedavyasa, the son of Parashara and Satyavati. It
is this person who is supposed to have written the Mahabharata and the
Puranas. Did I say that Vedavyasa is supposed to have written the Puranas
? That is partly true. He did write the Puranas, with the exception of one.
And which one do you think was the exception? The Vishnu Purana. The
Vishnu Purana was written by Parashara, Vedavyasa’s father.
I hope you have not misunderstood when I have used the word written.
I really mean composed. There was no writing in those days and the
compositions were passed down by word of mouth. So tradition says that
the Vishnu Purana was composed by the sage Parashara. In reality, several
people must have contributed to the composition of the Vishnu Purana
down the ages. Each added his own compilations and stories. In that sense,
the Vishnu Purana and the other Puranas do not have a single author.
Do you know how long the Vishnu Purana is? I am certain you don't.
But I am certain you know what a shloka is. It is a couplet of a verse. The
Vishnu Purana has twenty-three thousand shlokas. Is this many or few? As
Puranas go, this is about average. Skanda Purana has eighty-one thousand
shlokas and Markandeya Purana only nine thousand.
The Vishnu Purana also has six major sections or amshas. although the
last of these is really short.
After this introduction, let us get into the Vishnu Purana itself.
Maitreya and Parashara
Once the sage Maitreya came to the sage Parashara and wanted to
know about the creator of the universe. And this is what Parashara told him.
In the beginning the universe was full of water. But in that water there
emerged a huge egg (anda) that was round like a water-bubble. The egg
became bigger and bigger and inside the egg there was Vishnu. This egg
was called Brahmanda. And inside Brahmanda there were the mountains
and the land, the oceans and the seas, the gods, demons and humans and the
stars. On all sides, the egg was surrounded by water, fire, wind, the sky and
the elements. Inside the egg, Vishnu adopted the form of Brahma and
proceeded to create the universe. When the universe is to be destroyed, it is
Vishnu again who adopts the form of Shiva and performs the act of
destruction. Let us therefore salute the great god Vishnu.
There are four yugas or eras. These are called krita (or satya), treta,
dvapara and kali. Krita era consists of four thousand years, treta of three
thousand, dvapara of two thousand and kali of one thousand. All the four
eras thus pass in ten thousand years. And when all the four eras have passed
one thousand times each, that is merely one day for Brahma. I hope you are
good at elementary arithmetic. How many human years are equal to one of
Brahma's days? Ten thousand times one thousand. That is, ten million
years. During each of Brahma's days, the sages, the gods and the kings are
destroyed and recreated fourteen times. Each of these cycles is called a
manvantara. But at the end of Brahma's day, there comes the final
destruction. The world is burn. Brahma sleeps throughout his night, for ten
million human years. Thereafter, there is creation once again.
Parashara said, “Maitreya, let me tell you about how Brahma
performed the act of creation.”
Brahma is merely part of Narayana. And Narayana is Vishnu. Nara
means water and ayana means resting-place. When the earlier creation was
destroyed, the world was full of water and Vishnu slept on the water. That is
the reason why he is called Narayana. Narayana saw that there was water
all around and desired to create the world. He, therefore, adopted the form
of a boar (varaha) and went all the way down to the underworld. There the
earth saluted him and asked him to rescue her from the underworld. Upon
hearing the earth's request, Vishnu in his form of a boar began to roar. He
used his tusks to lift up the earth from the underworld. Then he carefully
placed the earth on the waters. The earth floated on the oceans like a huge
boat. Vishnu levelled out the earth and placed the mountains in their proper
places. The earth was divided into seven regions or dvipas.
After that came the question of creating the beings. There were four
types of beings that Brahma created through the powers of his mind. The
first were the demons or asuras, they came out of Brahma’s thighs. Next
came the gods or devas, they emerged from Brahma’s mouth. From
Brahma's sides there were created the ancestors or pitris. And the humans
came out the last. Many other things were created.
After that Brahma was both hungry and angry. The demons of hunger
took form and wanted to eat up Brahma, their creator. There were some
among them who did not want to eat their creator, but wanted to protect
(raksha) him. They came to be known as rakshasas. And those who wanted
to eat him came to be known as yakshas. When Brahma saw these
undesirable creatures, the hairs on his head fell off and grew up and stood
up again. From these hairs were born the snakes. The gandharvas were
born. They were known as gandharvas because they sing.
Many other things were created. From Brahma’s age were created the
birds, from his chest sheep and from his mouth goats. From his stomach and
sides there came out cattle and from his feet horses, elephants, deer and
camels. Plants sprouted from the hair on Brahma’s body.
There were four classes of humans that were created, the brahmanas,
the kshatriyas, the vaishyas and the shudras. The brahmanas came out of
Brahma’s mouth, the kshatriyas from his chest, the vaishyas from his thighs
and the shudras from his feet.
Lakshmi
Brahma also wanted to create a son who would be just like him. When
he thought of this, a son appeared on his lap. But the child kept on crying
(rud) and thus came to be known as Rudra. He was crying because he did
not have a name. The crying stopped when Brahma gave him the name of
Rudra from the word for crying. The child, however, began to cry once
more and did not stop until he was given another name. This happened
seven times. And so Rudra also has the names of Bhava, Sarva, Mahesha,
Pashupati, Bhima, Ugra and Mahadeva. Rudra’s wife was called Sati. She
gave up her life because of what her father Daksha had done and was born
again as Uma, the daughter of Himalaya and Menaka. Mahadeva married
Uma yet again.
There was a sage called Durvasa who was descended from Mahadeva.
Once upon a time, Durvasa was wandering around the world. And in the
hands of a pretty woman he saw a beautiful and fragrant garland. Durvasa
wanted the woman to give him the garland, which she gladly did. Durvasa
placed the garland on his head and continued to roam around the world.
Who should he then run into but Indra, the king of the gods? There were
other gods with Indra and Indra was seated on his elephant, Airavata.
Durvasa picked up the garland and threw it at Indra. Having caught the
garland, Indra placed it on the head of his elephant. Airavata must have
been surprised at the pleasant smell that was coming from his head. For he
raised his trunk to get a better sniff. And in the process, the garland fell off
his head and onto the ground.
Durvasa was very angry. He thought that Indra had insulted him. He
had not even bothered to thank Durvasa for the garland. And instead of
placing the garland on his own head, he had seen it fit to place the garland
on the head of an elephant. From which place it had fallen off onto the
ground. Durvasa therefore got ready to curse Indra. By then, Indra had
realised his mistake. He got off his elephant, fell at Durvasa’s feet and
begged that he might be forgiven. But Durvasa was not like the other sages;
he refused to be pacified. And so he cursed Indra. What was the curse? That
Lakshmi should disappear from Indra’s abode. Lakshmi, you may know, is
the goddess of wealth and prosperity.
When Indra returned to where he lived in Amaravati, he found the
place to be dreary and dilapidated. Lakshmi had left. The plants were dying.
The sages were not performing sacrifices. People had become selfish. It was
not simply Amaravati that had become like this. Indra ruled over all the
three worlds. And in all the three worlds this was precisely what had
happened.
The demons never liked the gods and were forever trying to fight with
them. They now discovered that the gods were less powerful and less well
protected. So they attacked the gods and gave them a good thrashing. What
were the poor gods to do? They elected the god Agni as their leader and
fled to Brahma for refuge and help. Brahma told them that he was unable to
help them himself; they should seek help from Vishnu. On the northern
shores of the great ocean the gods assembled and began to pray.
How could Vishnu ignore such prayers? He manifested himself before
the gods and gave them the following advice. The gods should meet the
demons and have a temporary truce. Both sides should get together and
prepare to churn the great ocean. Before the churning, herbs were to be
thrown into the ocean. The mountain Mandara was to be used as the
churner and the great snake Vasuki as the rope for churning. It was expected
that amrita (a drink that made one immortal) would come out of the ocean
as a result of the churning. And the gods should promise the demons that
this amrita would be equally shared out among the two sides. The drinking
of the amrita would make both sides stronger. But the promise of the amrita
would make sure that the demons took part in the churning. This was
nothing but an empty promise. Vishnu hastened to assure the gods that he
would ensure that the demons got none of the amrita.
This the demons did not know, they gladly agreed to the churning.
Herbs were hurled into the ocean and the churning began. The gods grasped
Vasuki’s tail and the demons its head. In fact, it was Vishnu who asked the
demons to grasp the head of the snake. Flames and smoke belched out of
the mouth of the snake and made the demons suffer. The gases that came
out of the snake's mouth went up into the sky and formed clouds. These
clouds were driven towards the tail and poured down as soothing rain on the
gods who had grasped the tail. On what was the huge mountain Mandara to
be balanced? The solution was again provided by Vishnu. Vishnu adopted
the form of a gigantic turtle on which the mountain could be placed.
Thus the churning went on. And wonderful were the things that
emerged out of the ocean as a result of the churning. The first to come out
was the cow Surabhi, worshipped by the gods. Next the goddess Varuni
emerged. Followed by the fragrant tree known as parijata. Out came the
apsaras (dancers of heaven), and the moon, which Mahadeva accepted as
an adornment for his head. There were bad things as well. The poison that
came out was accepted by the snakes. And dressed all in white, the god
Dhanvantari came out with the pot of amrita in his hands. At the sight of
the amrita, the gods, the demons and the sages were delighted. But there
was more to come. There emerged a lotus flower with the shining form of
the goddess Lakshmi. She held another lotus in her hand.
The sages began to chant hymns in front of her. The gandharvas sang,
the apsaras danced. Rivers like the Ganga arrived so that Lakshmi could
have a bath. There are eight elephants who protect the eight directions.
These elephants took clear water from golden vessels and bathed the
goddess. The ocean gave her a garland of lotus flowers which would not
fade. Vishvakarma provided the jewels. Thus bathed, dressed, jewelled and
garlanded, Lakshmi embraced Vishnu. Since the demons did not like
Vishnu, this meant that Lakshmi had forsaken the demons. And Lakshmi
smiled upon the gods. The demons did manage to get hold of the pot of
amrita. But Vishnu adopted a female form to trick the demons of the amrita
and give it to the gods.
The gods drank the amrita and attacked the demons with swords. The
amrita had made the gods strong and the demons were no match for them.
Their armies scattered and they fled into the underworld. The gods were
delighted. They bowed before Vishnu and continued to rule over heaven.
The sun went back to its old path across the sky. So did the stars. Indra
ascended his throne and ruled over the three worlds, after having prayed to
Lakshmi.
Parashara told Maitreya, “Indra’s prayers pleased Lakshmi and she
agreed to grant him boons.” The first boon that Indra asked for was that
Lakshmi should never leave the three worlds. And the second boon was that
Lakshmi should never turn away from anyone who prayed to Lakshmi
using the same prayer that Indra had used.
The Story of Dhruva
From Brahma’s body was created Manu. All humans are descended
from Manu's sons and daughters. This is the reason for their being called
manava. Manu had two righteous and brave sons known as Priyavrata and
Uttanapada. Uttanapada had two wives, Suruchi and Suniti. Suruchi's son
was Uttama and Suniti's son was Dhruva. King Uttanapada was fonder of
Suruchi than of Suniti and liked Uttama much more than he liked Dhruva.
One day, Dhruva found that Uttama was sitting on his father’s lap on
the throne. Naturally, Dhruva also wanted to climb onto his father’s lap. But
Suruchi scolded him saying that he should not aspire to that which was
Uttama's. He should always remember that the throne was meant for
Uttama and not for Dhruva.
Dhruva was angry. He went running to his mother. And he told his
mother what had happened. Suniti consoled him and told him that men
suffer or prosper depending on what they had done in their past lives. If one
has done good deeds in an earlier life, one becomes a king, has an umbrella
held over one’s head and rides excellent horses and elephants in this life.
Suruchi and Uttama must have performed many good deeds in their earlier
lives. And Suniti and Dhruva must have performed many evil deeds in their
earlier lives. This was not something to be unhappy about. Wise men were
satisfied with what they got. If Dhruva was really upset at what Suruchi had
said, he should stop being unhappy and should instead spend his time on
being good, religious, righteous and selfless.
Suniti’s words convinced Dhruva. He said, “Mother, your words have
given me peace. I will try to achieve the highest position of all. True, the
king loves Suruchi and true, I am not Suruchi’s son. But I am your son and I
will show you what I can do. Let Uttama have his throne. I do not wish for
something that is someone else’s. Through my own work I will achieve a
place that not even my father has achieved.”
Dhruva said this and went out of the house. There was a forest not very
far away. And in the forest he met seven sages. He bowed before them and
said, “I am Dhruva, the son of Uttanapada and Suniti. I am unhappy and so
I have come before you.”
The sages were surprised. “Prince,” they said, “You are only four or
five years old. You have nothing to be unhappy about, you have nothing to
worry about. Your father is a king and he is still alive. Nor do you seem to
be ill. Why then are you unhappy?”
Dhruva told them the reason for his unhappiness. He said that he
desired neither wealth nor kingdoms. He simply wanted to go to a place
where no one had ever been before. The sages advised him to pray to
Vishnu. They also taught him the mantra that was to be used for praying to
Vishnu.
Dhruva made his way to the banks of the river Yamuna. This was the
region that was known as Madhuvana, because the daitya (demon) Madhu
had ruled over it. Rama's brother Shatrughan had defeated Madhu’s son
Lavana and built the city of Mathura here. Here it was that Dhruva prayed.
He prayed so hard that even the gods were disturbed. They did their best to
break this tapasya of Dhruva’s. The rakshasas appeared to attack him with
many weapons. Jackals howled around him. Ghosts threatened him. But
Dhruva was undisturbed. He thought only of Vishnu. And saw nothing but
Vishnu.
The gods were worried because they thought that Dhruva was praying
so that he might obtain the power to defeat them. Perhaps he wanted to
become Indra, or the sun, or Kubera, Varuna or Soma. They went to Vishnu
and asked him to stop Dhruva's tapasya. Vishnu reassured the gods. He
knew that these were not the things that Dhruva wanted.
Vishnu appeared before Dhruva and offered him a boon. The boy
opened his eyes and saw Vishnu standing before him. He wanted the boon
that he should always feel like praying to Vishnu. In fact, he did not really
want a boon at all. He had seen Vishnu with his own eyes and there was
nothing more that he desired. Vishnu was however so pleased that he
persisted in granting Dhruva some boon. Dhruva then wanted the boon that
he might attain a place that was on top of the entire world.
Vishnu told him that he would grant what Dhruva desired. He also told
Dhruva that in an earlier life Dhruva had been a brahmana who was
devoted to Vishnu. But the brahmana's friend had been a wealthy and
beautiful prince. Having got a boon from Vishnu, the brahmana had desired
that in his next life he might be born a prince. That was the reason why he
had been born as Dhruva, the son of King Uttanapada.
But since Dhruva no longer wanted kingdoms or wealth, Vishnu would
place him in the middle of the sky so that all the stars would revolve around
him. His mother Suniti would also be placed in the sky near him.
Have you seen Dhruva in the sky? Of course you have. Near the seven
sages who form the constellation of the Great Bear. Dhruva is nothing but
the Pole Star.
The Kings Vena and Prithu
Some generations further down from Dhruva, there was a king called
Vena. Vena was not a good king at all. He announced that there would be no
sacrifices on earth. There was absolutely no reason for praying to Vishnu,
wasn’t King Vena superior to even Vishnu? The sages tried to persuade the
King to change his ways, but Vena was not in a mood to listen.
The sages therefore decided that Vena should die. They chanted
mantras over a straw and killed Vena with the straw. The problem however
was that who would rule the kingdom in Vena’s place? Vena did not have
any children. The sages then began to knead the dead king’s thighs. After
the kneading, a dwarf who looked like a short pillar came out of the thighs.
“What shall I do?,” asked the dwarf.
“Sit,” said the sages and the dwarf came to be called nishada from the
word for sitting. Later, the sons of Nishada came to live in the Vindhya
mountains.
The sages then began to knead the dead body's right hand. And a
shining man came out because of the kneading. This was Prithu. As he was
born, a divine bow, arrows and armour fell on him from the skies. Everyone
was happy at Prithu’s birth. Even Vena no longer had to go to the hell that
one has to go to if one does not have a son. The rivers and the oceans
arrived with water and jewels for Prithu’s coronation. The gods and Brahma
arrived to bathe Prithu before the coronation. Brahma noticed that Prithu
had the mark of a chakra (Vishnu’s weapon) on his right hand. This was a
good omen, because it meant that Prithu was descended from Vishnu. Only
kings whom even the gods cannot rival have this sign on their hands.
Prithu was crowned. He was a powerful king. The waters of the ocean
trembled when he passed and the mountains made a path for him. His flag
was never lowered. The earth yielded crops without any ploughing. The
cows gave a lot of milk and the flowers were full of honey. As soon as he
was born, Prithu arranged for a sacrifice (yajna). From this sacrifice were
born the sutas and the magadhas, who chanted songs in Prithu's praise.
But there had been a short period between Vena’s death and Prithu’s
birth when there had been no king on the land. The land does not flourish in
the absence of a king. The herbs disappeared from the earth and people
were hungry. These people went to Prithu and begged him to restore the
herbs. To obtain the herbs, Prithu took up his bow and arrow and began to
chase the earth. The earth adopted the form of a cow and started to run. But
wherever the earth went, Prithu followed. Finally, Prithu caught up with the
earth and the earth restored whatever few herbs were left. To ensure that the
earth returned to normalcy and once again became fertile, Prithu levelled
out the mountains with his bow. In the earlier creation, there had been no
cities, villages, grains, animal husbandry, agriculture or trade.
It was because of Prithu that all this became possible. This is the reason
why the earth is called prithivi.
The Prachetas
Amongst Prithu’s descendants was a king called Prachinvarhi who
married the daughter of the ocean, Savarna.
Ten sons, the Prachetas, were born of this marriage. They performed
very difficult tapasya (meditation) for ten thousand years under the ocean.
Maitreya asked Parashara, “Why did the Prachetas perform difficult
tapasya for ten thousand years?” And this was Parashara’s answer.
Brahma had asked Prachinvarhi to ensure that the world became full of
people and Prachinvarhi passed on the task to his sons. But the Prachetas
did not know how to go about this task. Their father told them to pray to
Vishnu, for didn't Vishnu offer the solution to all problems ? It was after
praying to Vishnu that Brahma had created the universe at the beginning of
the original creation. On hearing their father’s instructions, the Prachetas
prayed for ten thousand years.
When the ten thousand years were over, Vishnu appeared before them
on the top of his transport Garuda. He offered them a boon and the
Prachetas requested that they might be able to people the world. Having
obtained the desired boon, the Prachetas emerged from the ocean and found
that in their absence, the earth had been covered with trees. No winds could
blow. In their anger, the Prachetas created wind and fire from their mouths.
The wind uprooted the trees and the fire burnt them. All the trees began to
be destroyed.
Soma, king of the trees, could not bear this to happen. He rushed to the
Prachetas and tried to appease them. There was a beautiful woman called
Marisha who had been born from the trees and whom Soma had brought up.
Soma offered Marisha in marriage to the Prachetas. He promised them that
the son who would be born, Daksha, would people the world. Soma also
told the Prachetas the story of Marisha’s birth.
Many years ago, there used to be a sage called Kandu. This sage was
performing difficult tapasya on the banks of the river Gomati. To disturb
him, Indra sent an apsara (dancer of heaven) named Pramlocha. Kandu fell
in love with her, married her and lived with her for more than a hundred
years in a valley in the mountain Mandara. When more than a hundred
years had passed, the apsara wished to return to heaven. But Kandu said.
“Stay for some more time.” Pramlocha again stayed there for more than a
hundred years and wished to return to heaven after these hundred years had
passed. But Kandu again said, “Stay for some more time.” And this went on
and on.
After many years had passed, Kandu regained his senses. He said,
“Wife, one whole day is over. It is now evening. Let me say my prayers.”
“One day,” exclaimed Pramlocha. “Are you not aware that nine
hundred and eighty-seven years, six months and three days have passed
since you married me?”
This made Kandu realise what had happened. He went back to his
tapasya and allowed Pramlocha to return to heaven. On her way towards
heaven, Pramlocha wiped her sweat on the leaves of trees. She was bearing
a baby and the baby came out with the sweat and was left with the trees. It
was this baby who grew up and became Marisha.
In an earlier life, Marisha had been married to a king. But the king had
died when Marisha had been very young. The young widow had prayed to
Vishnu and Vishnu had agreed to grant her a boon. The widow had desired
the boon that she might have a son like Brahma and that she might have
good husbands in several lives. Vishnu had promised her that she would
have a son like Brahma and that she would have several good husbands in
the same life. That is why Marisha was now simultaneously married to the
ten Prachetas.
Daksha was then born. The same Daksha who had earlier been the son
of Brahma. Daksha had sixty daughters. Ten of them were married to
Dharma, thirteen to Kashyapa, twenty-seven to Chandra, four to
Arishtanemi, two to Angirasa and two to Krishasha. The thirteen daughters
who were married to Kashyapa were Aditi, Diti, Danu, Kala, Arishta,
Surasa, Surabhi, Vinata, Tamra, Krodhavasha, Ira, Kadru and Muni.
Kashyapa and Diti had two brave sons– Hiranyakashipu and
Hiranyaksha. Hiranyakashipu’s sons were Anuhlada, Hlada, Prahlada and
Sanhlada.
The Story of Prahlada
Hiranyakashipu had received a boon from Brahma. On the strength of
this boon, he conquered the three worlds. He drove out Indra from heaven
and assumed the title of Indra. He also assumed the titles of Savita, Vayu,
Agni, Varuna, Soma, Kubera and Yama. The gods fled from heaven
(svarga) and roamed around the world in human forms. Everyone had to
worship Hiranyakashipu, the king of the daityas (the sons of Diti).
Hiranyakashipu lived in a magnificent palace made of crystal. There the
apsaras danced, and Hiranyakashipu indulged in drinking wine.
Young Prahlada had been sent away to study with his guru (teacher).
On a vacation he came home with his teacher and Hiranyakashipu naturally
wanted to find out what his son had learnt.
“I have learnt to pray to Vishnu.” said Prahlada.
Hiranyakashipu was furious. “Why have you taught him this
nonsense?”, he demanded of the guru.
“I have not.” replied the teacher. This is not what I have taught him. He
is saying this of his own accord.
“Dear son,” asked Hiranyakashipu. “who has taught you this rubbish?”
“The teacher of all teachers, Lord Vishnu.” came the reply.
“Who is this Vishnu?”, asked Hiranyakashipu.
“The Lord of my heart,” said Prahlada.
“Lord of your heart. How can you have a Lord other than me?”
“He is not only my Lord, he is yours as well.” replied Prahlada. “Lord
of everyone.”
“Take him away,” said the angry Hiranyakashipu. “Send him back to
the teacher. Let him unlearn all this.”
Prahlada went back to his guru’s home and studied there for many
years. He was then again brought back before Hiranyakashipu.
“Son.” asked Hiranyakashipu, “what did you study?”
“To pray to Vishnu,” was the reply.
“Kill my evil son.” said Hiranyakashipu. “There is nothing to be gained
by his remaining alive. He is a disgrace to my family.”
On hearing these words, hundreds and thousands of daityas attacked
Prahlada with all sorts of weapons. But because Prahlada was protected by
Vishnu, the weapons could do him no harm. Hiranyakashipu then let loose
many poisonous snakes on Prahlada. But because Prahlada had Vishnu’s
protection, the fangs of the snakes could not penetrate his skin.
Hiranyakashipu then asked many elephants to kill Prahlada with their tusks.
The elephants threw done Prahlada on the ground and gored him with their
tusks. But Prahlada thought of Vishnu and the tusks broke on his breast. On
the orders of Hiranyakashipu, the daityas next lit a fire. Prahlada was put
into the fire, but the flames could do nothing to him. On witnessing all this,
Hiranyakashipu’s priests requested him to take Prahlada out of the fire.
“Don’t worry,” they said. “We will give him a proper education.”
Prahlada went back to his guru. But whenever he could find the time,
he began to teach the sons of the daityas. He taught them to pray to Vishnu.
This was reported to Hiranyakashipu, who instructed the cooks to
poison Prahlada’s food. The cooks did as they were told. But because
Prahlada thought of Vishnu, the poison had no effect. The priests tried to
persuade Prahlada once more. But to no avail. The priests then created a
demon. The demon was like the flames of a fire. It dug up the earth with its
feet, and attacked Prahlada with a huge trishula (trident). But the trishula
struck Prahlada’s chest and broke into many pieces. This frustrated the
demon and it turned around and began to attack the priests instead. The
priests ran here and there, but were all killed by the demon.
This made Prahlada very unhappy. “Lord Vishnu, teacher of all the
worlds, creator of all the worlds.” he prayed. “Please restore these priests
back to life.” And as soon as Prahlada touched the dead bodies, the priests
came back to life. The priests went back to Hiranyakashipu and told him
what had happened.
Prahlada was taken to Hiranyakashipu once more. “What gives you
these powers?”, asked Hiranyakashipu.
“These are not my powers”, replied Prahlada. “These are the powers of
Vishnu.”
On hearing Vishnu's name, Hiranyakashipu became angry once again.
He instructed his servants to take Prahlada to the top of the palace and
throw him down so that his bones might break on the rocks below. The
servants did as they were told. But Prahlada thought of Vishnu as he fell,
and nothing happened to him. Hiranyakashipu then called Shambarasura.
This was an asura who was well versed in the use of maya, the technique of
creating Illusions and hallucinations.
Shambarasura used maya to create illusions around Prahlada. But
Prahlada kept thinking of Vishnu. And Vishnu’s weapon, the sudarshana
chakra, came and destroyed all the maya. Hiranyakashipu then asked the
wind to dry up Prahlada’s body. But this too failed. And Prahlada returned
to the home of his teacher.
The teacher taught him the things that a king should know. These
precepts of royal policy had been laid down a long time ago by
Shukracharya. They taught one the rules for dealing with one’s enemies and
one’s friends.
When his education had been completed, Prahlada was brought again
before Hiranyakashipu. “Son.” said Hiranyakashipu, “show me what you
have learnt. How will you deal with your enemies?”
“What enemies?”, asked Prahlada. “Vishnu is in me, Vishnu is in my
friends and Vishnu is in my enemies. If Vishnu is everywhere, how can
there be enemies? I see friends everywhere. Gods, humans, birds, animals,
trees and snakes are all full of the same Vishnu. Therefore, one should look
upon the whole world as one looks upon oneself.”
Hiranyakashipu became mad with anger. He got up from his throne and
kicked his son on the chest. He told his soldiers to tie up Prahlada in nooses
of snakes and throw him into the sea. They were then to throw down
mountains on the sea so that Prahlada got crushed. This is precisely what
the daityas did. But Prahlada kept on praying to Vishnu. He forgot all about
himself and thought only of Vishnu. Prahlada became like Vishnu himself
and the nooses of snakes fell away from his body. Prahlada removed the
mountains that had been thrown down by the daityas and emerged from the
water. He prayed to Vishnu and Vishnu appeared before him.
“What boon do you desire, Prahlada?”, asked Vishnu.
“That I may be forever faithful to you.”
“Granted,” said Vishnu. “What else do you want?”
“That my father’s sins be forgiven.”
“Granted.” said Vishnu.
Prahlada returned to Hiranyakashipu and the father relented and
embraced his son. Eventually, Vishnu adopted the form of a man-lion
(narasimha) and killed Hiranyakashipu. Prahlada became the king of the
daityas and he ruled well and wisely. He had many sons and grandsons.
One of Prahlada’s sons was Virochana and Virochana’s son was Vali.
I have told you that the Vishnu Purana has six major sections. This is
where the first section ends.
Priyavrata and Bharata
Maltreya told Parashara, “Sage, I have learnt that Manu had two sons,
Priyavrata and Uttanapada. You have already told me about Uttanapada’s
son Dhruva. But what about Priyavrata?” And this was Parashara’s reply.
Priyavrata married the daughter of Kardama and had ten sons. Their
names were Agnidhra, Agnivahu, Vapushmana, Dyutimana, Medha,
Medhatithi, Bhavya, Savana, Putra and Jyotishmana. Medha, Agnivahu and
Putra were not interested in becoming kings, they became sages. The world
is divided into seven regions or dvipas. Priyavrata gave each of the
remaining seven sons a dvipa to rule over. Agnidhra got Jambudvipa,
Vapushmana Shalmalidvipa, Dyutimana Krounchadvipa, Medhatithi
Plakshadvipa, Bhavya Shakadvipa, Savana Pushkaradvipa and Jyotishmana
Kushadvipa. King Agnidhra had nine sons, Nabhi, Kimpurusha, Ilavrita,
Ramya, Shashtha, Hiranvana, Hari, Kuru and Bhadrashva. Jambudvipa was
divided up by Agnidhra among these sons. Nabhi got the region that was to
eventually became Bharatavarsha. Nabhi had a son called Rishabha.
Rishabha had a hundred sons, the eldest of whom was Bharata. It is after
Bharata that the country was called Bharatavarsha.
Some Geography
You have already been told that the world is divided into seven dvipas,
Jambu, Shalmali, Krouncha, Plaksha, Shaka, Pushkara and Kusha. The
seven dvipas are surrounded by seven oceans. Their names are Lavana,
Ikshu, Sura, Sarpi, Dadhi, Dugdha and Jala. Jambudvipa is right in the
middle. And in the middle of Jambudvipa is the golden-hued Mount Meru.
If the earth were to be a lotus flower, Mount Meru would be the stamen.
To the south of Mount Meru lies first Bharatavarsha, then
Kimpurushavarsha and eventually Harivarsha. To the north lies first
Ramyaka, then Hiranmaya and eventually the northern part of Kuruvarsha.
Mount Meru is actually in Ilavritavarsha And on four sides of Mount Meru
are four mountains. To the east is Mandara, to the south Gandhamadana, to
the west Vipula and to the north Suparshva. These mountains have a lot of
Jambu or jamun trees. That is why the region is known as Jambudvipa.
There are four beautiful lakes around Mount Meru. Their names are
Arunoda, Mahabhadra, Asitoda and Manasa. On the peak of Mount Meru is
Brahma’s famous city.
The river Ganga originates from the feet of Lord Vishnu. It flows
around the moon and then falls on Brahma’s city. It then divides into four
rivers, Sita, Alakananda, Chakshu and Bhadra. Sita flows eastwards,
Alakananda southwards into Bharatavarsha, Chakshu westwards and
Bhadra northwards. In Bharatavarsha, Alakananda divides into seven rivers.
The region around Mount Meru is regarded as a svarga on earth. Here
live the gods, goddesses, gandharvas, yakshas, rakshasas, daityas and
danavas. Only the righteous people can go there, the sinners are not
permitted to enter.
The sons of Bharata live in Bharatavarsha. There are seven major
mountains in Bharatavarsha and their names are Mahendra, Malaya, Sahya,
Shuktimana, Riksha, Vindhya and Paripatra. To the east of Bharatavarsha
live the kiratas or hunters and to the west live the yavanas. The rivers
Shatadru and Chandrabhaga flow out of the Himalayas, the main rivers
mentioned in the Vedas from Mount Paripatra and the rivers Narmada and
Surasa from Mount Vindhya.
Jambudvipa is surrounded by the ocean named Lavana. The people of
Jambudvipa worship Vishnu. In other dvipas, other gods are worshipped.
Bharatavarsha is the best part of Jambudvipa.
There are seven underworlds (patala) on earth. Their names are Atala,
Vitala, Nitala, Gabhastimata, Mahatala, Sutala and Patala. Here live the
danavas, daityas, yakshas and nagas. Narada once went on a trip to patala
and discovered that patala was more beautiful than svarga. It was a place
full of jewels. During the day, the rays of the sun only provided light, but no
heat. And during the night, the moon-beams provided light, but no cold.
Patala was full of rivers, forests and lakes. The inhabitants of patala wore
beautiful clothes, rubbed scented paste on their bodies and loved music. At
the bottom of patala was Vishnu in his form of a thousand-headed snake.
This snake was known as Shesha.
Under the earth and the water are several hells (naraka). They form the
kingdom that Yama rules over. There are different narakas for different
types of sinners. Those who lie and bear false witness go to Rourava. Those
who kill cows go to Rodha. Those who drink, kill brahmanas or steal gold
go to Shukara. Those who kill kshatriyas or vaishyas go to Tala. Those who
treat their teachers’ wives badly go to Taptakunda. Those who kill
messengers or sell women or horses go to Taptalouha. Those who treat their
daughters and daughters-in-law badly go to Mahajvala. Those who show
disrespect to their seniors or those who criticise the Vedas go to Lavana.
Thieves go to Vimohana. Those who criticise good things, Vedas or
brahmanas and those who hate their fathers go to Krimibhaksha.
Those who eat before their fathers, gods or guests go to Lalabhaksha.
Those who make arrows go to Vedhaka. Those who make swords go to
Vishasana. Astrologers go to Adhomukha. Fathers who eat sweets without
offering them to their children and brahmanas who sell meat, milk or salt
go to Puyavaha. This is also the naraka that is reserved for brahmanas who
keep cats, hens, goats, dogs, pigs or birds to make a living. Brahmanas who
make a living as actors or fishermen and poisoners and arsonists go to the
naraka known as Rudhirandha. Those who destroy villages go to Vaitarani.
The unclean go to the naraka known as Krishna. Those who destroy forests
for no reason go to Asipatravana. Those who make a living by keeping
sheep or those who kill deer go to Vanhijvala. Fathers who study under their
sons go to Shvabhojana. Those who oppose the law of the four classes go to
Niraya.
Apart from these narakas, there are thousands of others. Apart from the
sins mentioned earlier, there are thousands of other sins. In the narakas,
sinners suffer for their sins. They are hung upside down. Once they have
spent the time in naraka and have paid for their sins, they are born again.
Depending on how they have behaved, people are born as trees, creepers,
worms, fish, birds, animals, human, religious people or gods. A sinner does
not however have to go to naraka if he repents for his sins. And the best
way to repent is to think of Vishnu.
Some Astronomy
Many miles above the earth is the world of the sun. Then come the
several worlds of the moon, the Stars, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter,
Saturn, the saptarshis (the Great Bear constellation) and Dhruva
respectively. Dhruva is the centre of all the stars. Above it is Janaloka,
where Brahma’s sons live. Gods live in Tapoloka, above Janaloka.
Satyaloka is still higher up. It is divided into Brahmaloka and
Vaikunthaloka, abodes of Brahma and Vishnu respectively.
The inhabitants of Dhruvaloka, Janaloka, Tapoloka and Satyaloka are
not destroyed at the end of each cycle of creation. But the inhabitants of the
other three lokas are destroyed. The first of these lokas is of course the earth
or bhurloka. The second is bhuvarloka, where live the sages, the region
between the earth and the sun. And the third is svarloka, the region from the
sun to Dhruva. There are thus seven lokas in all.
Actually, the universe consists of fourteen regions, the seven lokas and
seven patalas. A loka or a patala is called a bhuvana and there are fourteen
such bhuvanas in the universe. The bhuvanas are surrounded by darkness
on all sides. Around the darkness is water. And around the water is fire.
Beyond the fire is the wind and beyond the wind there is the sky.
The Story of Jadabharata
Many years ago there used to live a king named Bharata. He was the
son of Rishabha and used to live in a place known as Shalagrama. He
thought of Vishnu all the time, even in his dreams and he had given up all
thought of violence.
Once Bharata had gone to bathe in a river. A deer had also come to
drink water there. While the deer was drinking water, there was the terrible
roar of a lion. The deer gave a frightened leap and gave an untimely birth.
The baby fell into the river. The mother deer died as a result of the leap. But
Bharata rescued the baby deer from the water and brought it home to his
ashrama (hermitage). Every day, the king fed the baby and slowly, the deer
grew bigger. It wandered around the hermitage. Sometimes it even
wandered out, but returned quickly as it was frightened of tigers. As it grew
older, the deer would leave the ashrama in the mornings and return in the
evenings.
Bharata grew attached to the deer and forgot everything else. He had
given up his kingdom, his sons and his friends and forgotten them all. But
he could not forget the deer. If the deer was late in returning to the ashrama,
he would worry that it might have been eaten up by a wolf or a tiger or a
lion. He would be happy only when the deer returned. And because Bharata
thought about the deer so much, he forgot to think of Vishnu.
Many years passed. Bharata died watching the deer and thinking of it.
Since he thought of the deer while dying, he was born as a deer in his next
life. The only difference was that he was born as a jatismara deer, that is, a
deer that remembered the incidents of its past life. As a deer, Bharata left
his mother and came again to Shalagrama because he remembered his old
place. He lived on dry leaves and dry grass and eventually died. He was
reborn as a jatismara brahmana. In this life he was truly learned, well
versed in all the shastras.
Since he had attained the supreme knowledge, he saw no point in
reading the Vedas or in doing work. He kept to himself and spoke little,
only when he had to. His body was dirty, his clothes were filthy and he
never cleaned his teeth. Because of this, people treated him badly. But since
Interaction with people was an obstacle to attaining supreme knowledge,
Bharata kept up this pretence of being slightly mad. He moved so little that
he came to be known as Jadabharata. He ate whatever was available to him.
And when his father died, his brothers, nephews and friends, gave him only
dirty food to eat. Since he was strong and stout, they used him in their
farming work.
The sage Kapila had an ashrama on the banks of the river Ikshumati.
One day, the King of Soubira wanted to go there on a palanquin to learn
words of wisdom from the sage. The servant of the king looked for
palanquin-bearers who would carry the palanquin free of charge and found
Bharata. So Bharata bore the palanquin along with the other bearers. But he
walked slowly while the other bearers walked fast. The result was that the
palanquin did not move smoothly. When scolded, the other bearers
naturally blamed Bharata for this difficulty.
“What is wrong”? asked the king of Bharata, “Haven't you borne the
palanquin only for a little while? How is it that you are tired? Can’t you
bear a little burden? You look quite strong to me.”
Bharata replied, “I have not borne your palanquin, nor am I tired or
strong, nor am I bearing a burden.”
“This is indeed strange,” said the king. “I can see that you are strong. I
can see that you are carrying my palanquin on your shoulders. It is normal
for you to be a little tired. Why then do you deny all this?”
Bharata’s answer was this. “Who am I and who are you? What you
have seen is only my body and your body. I am not my body and nor are
you your body. Our atmans or souls are what we really are. My atman is not
strong or tired, nor is it carrying your palanquin upon its shoulders.”
Having said this, Bharata was quiet again. But the king got down from
the palanquin and fell at his feet. He wanted to know who Bharata really
was, for such words of wisdom do not come from an ordinary man. Bharata
then told him the truth about the atman, which is never destroyed and takes
up different bodies from one life to another. This is the jivatman. In
addition, there is the paramatman, which is Vishnu and is everywhere.
There is no difference between the jivatman and the paramatman and the
person who has realised this is truly wise. To think that the jivatman is
different from the paramatman is to suffer from maya or illusion.
Bharata also told the king a story. Many years ago Brahma had a son
known as Ribhu. Ribhu was very learned and his disciple was Nidagha, the
son of Pulastya. The teacher and the pupil used to live on the banks of the
river Devika, near a city known as Viranagara. But Ribhu realised that
Nidagha was still not ready for the supreme knowledge. So he sent the pupil
to live in the city, although he continued to live in the forest.
One day, Ribhu decided to pay Nidagha a visit to see how the disciple
was getting on. After Ribhu had washed his hands and feet, Nidagha offered
him food. “Please eat,” he said.
“What have you got to eat?” asked Ribhu. “Is it clean food?”
“I have rice and cereals and fruit and sweets.” replied Nidagha.
“That is unclean food.” said the teacher. “Make me rice pudding, curds
and wine.”
Nidagha asked his wife to prepare the desired food. The food was
prepared and Ribhu had his fill.
“Are you content now?”, asked Nidagha. “Where are you going and
why did you come here?”
Ribhu replied as follows. “Those who are hungry become content on
eating food. I was not hungry, so the question of my being content after
eating does not arise. Why ask me a silly question? The body feels hungry, I
do not. I am not the body. You asked me where I was going and why did I
come here. These are meaningless questions. My atman is everywhere, it
cannot go or come. I am not really what you see. Nor are you what I see. I
did not care at all about what you gave me to eat. I said all that just to see
what you would say. Since all food is made of the same elements, it all
tastes alike. Learn this, for this is true knowledge.”
Thereupon, Nidagha bowed down before Ribhu and said that his
illusions have now been destroyed.
After one thousand years had passed, Ribhu came again to Nidagha.
And he found that Nidagha now lived outside the city, eating grass and
straw. He didn’t mix with other people and had become frail and thin.
Ribhu again gave him a lesson on true knowledge, which does not
distinguish between all things and paramatman.
And Bharata said that this was the knowledge that the king should
learn. The sky sometimes looks blue and sometimes white, but it is the
same sky. Those who suffer from illusions look upon different atmans
separately. But they are truly all part of the same atman. There is nothing in
the world except this atman and all of us are parts of the same atman.
This is the end of the second section of the Vishnu Purana.
The Manvantaras
The manvantara is a cycle of creation and destruction. A Manu rules
over each such manvantara. There have been six manvantaras till now and
the names of the respective Manus were Svayambhuva, Svarochasha,
Outtami, Tamasa, Raivata and Chakshusha. Vaivasvata, the son of the sun,
rules over the present and seventh manvantara. Each manvantara has its
own gods and rishis. The gods of the present manvantara are the adityas,
the vasus and the rudras and Purandara holds the title of Indra, the king of
the gods. The names of the seven rishis of the present manvantara are
Vashishtha, Kashyapa, Atri, Jamadagni, Goutama, Vishvamitra and
Bharadvaja.
These were the seven manvantaras that have passed. But there are
seven manvantaras yet to come.
Vishvakarma had a daughter named Samjna who was married to Surya,
the sun. Their children were called Manu, Yama and Yami. After some
time, Samjna found that she could no longer bear the energy of her
husband. So she created a woman known as Chhaya who looked exactly
like her. She left Chhaya to look after her husband and went off to meditate
in a forest. Surya did not know that this was Chhaya and not Samjna. Surya
and Chhaya had two sons called Shanaishchara and Savarni Manu and a
daughter called Tapati.
One day, for some reason, Chhaya became very angry and cursed
Yama. Both Yama and Surya then understood that this woman could not be
Yama’s mother Samjna and must be someone else. Chhaya told them what
had happened. And Surya learnt that Samjna was performing tapasya in a
forest in the form of a mare. Surya himself adopted the form of a horse and
joined his wife. As horses, they had three sons, the two Ashvinis and
Revanta.
Surya wanted to bring Samjna back to his home. The problem however
was Surya’s energy, which Samjna could not stand. Therefore, Vishvakarma
sliced off Surya’s energy and the sliced off part fell on the earth. With this
energy Vishvakarma made Vishnu’s chakra, Rudra’s trishula, Kubera's
palanquin, Kartikeya's spear and other weapons of the other gods.
As mentioned earlier, Surya and Chhaya had a son called Savarni
Manu. This would be the Manu in the eighth manvantara and Indra would
then be Vali, the son of Virochana. The ninth Manu would be
Dakshasavarni, the tenth Brahmasavarni, the eleventh Dharmasavarni, the
twelfth Savarna, the thirteenth Rouchya and the fourteenth Bhoutya. At the
end of each four cycle of yugas, the Vedas are destroyed and in each satya
yuga, the respective Manu rewrites the sacred shastras. In each
manvantara, Manu, the seven rishis, Indra the gods and the kings are
created afresh. Fourteen manvantaras make a kalpa. And at the end of a
kalpa comes Brahma’s night. During that night, Vishnu in his form of
Brahma sleeps on the waters that are everywhere.
Vedavyasa
In each age, Vishnu in his form of Vedavyasa, divided the Vedas. In
every dvapara yuga, this is done. The present manvantara is the Vaivasvata
manvantara and in this manvantara, the Vedas have already been divided
twenty-eight times. The names of these twenty-eight Vedavyases were
Svayambhu, Prajapati, Ushana, Brihaspati, Savita, Mrityu, Indra,
Vashishtha, Sarasvata, Tridhama, Trivrisha, Bharadvaja, Antariksha, Vapri,
Trayaruna, Dhananjaya, Kritanjaya, Rinajya, Bharadvaja, Goutama,
Haryatma, Vena, Trinavindu, Riksha, Shaktri, Parashara, Jatukarna and
Krishna Dvaipayana. The Vishnu Purana says that the next Vedavyasa will
be Drona’s son Ashvatthama. As you may know from the Mahabharata,
Ashvatthama is immortal.
The essence of brahman and the four Vedas is captured in the word
Om. Brahman is everywhere, but appears to different people in different
forms.
The four Vedas, Rig, Yajur, Sama, and Atharva, together have one lakh
shlokas. It is from the Vedas that the ten famous sacrifices (yajnas)
originate. When Krishna Dvaipayana Vedavyasa sought to divide the four
Vedas, he first gathered around him four disciples who were learned in the
Vedas. Paila was taught the Rig Veda, Vaishampayana the Yajur Veda,
Jaimini the Sama Veda and Sumantu the Atharva Veda. Krishna Dvaipayana
taught the Puranas to his disciple Romaharshana.
Yajnavalka
Once upon a time, the famous rishis decided that they would have a
gathering. They also decided that whoever did not come to this gathering,
would after a period of seven days commit the crime of killing a brahmana.
All the sages came to this gathering, but Vaishampayana did not. After
seven days, Vaishampayana stepped on his nephew and killed him by
mistake. This was a terrible sin and had to be atoned for.
Vaishampayana had divided the Yajur Veda into twenty-seven parts and
had distributed these parts among various disciples. One of these disciples
was Yajnavalka. Vaishampayana called his disciples together and said, “I
have committed the crime of killing a brahmana. Please arrange for a
sacrifice so that I might atone for this sin.”
On hearing this Yajnavalka said, “There is no need to bother about
these other disciples. They do not have much power. I will arrange for the
sacrifice myself.”
This made Vaishampayana angry. “You have insulted the other
disciples, Yajnavalka,” he said. “Return to me what I have taught you. I do
not need a disciple like you.”
Yajnavalka replied, “I said what I did because I respected you. But
since you have misunderstood, I too do not require a teacher like you. Here
is what I have learnt. I am returning it.”
Yajnavalka then vomited out the Yajur Veda and the other disciples ate
it up in the form of birds. That is why this branch of the Yajur Veda is called
the Taittiriya after the name of the bird Tittira.
But Yajnavalka still wanted to learn the Yajur Veda. So he began to
pray to the sun. The sun finally appeared to him in the form of a horse and
taught him those branches of the Yajur Veda which even Vaishampayana did
not know.
The Puranas
Now the Vishnu Purana describes what the Puranas are and how they
came to be written. It says that the original text Purana Samhita was taught
by Vedavyasa to his disciple Romaharshana (also called Lomaharshana).
Romaharshana had six disciples, Sumati, Agnivarchah, Mitrayu,
Shamshapayana, Akritavrana and Savarni. Each of these disciples
composed a Purana on the basis of the Purana Samhita. It was on the basis
of these that the Vishnu Purana had been written. It was written after the
Padma Purana and is devoted to the glory of Lord Vishnu.
There are fourteen types of knowledge (vidya). These are the four
Vedas, the six Vedangas, Mimamsa, Nyaya, the Puranas and the
Dharmashastras. To this one might add four further forms of knowledge,
Ayurveda, Dhanurveda, music and Arthashastra. There are three types of
rishis, brahmarshis, devarshis and rajarshis.
Yama
When people die, they come under the control of Yama and Yama
sends them to different narakas. When they have atoned for their sins, they
are reborn. Maitreya wanted to know if there was any way in which men
could avoid going to Yama after death.
Parashara told him that Nakula had asked the same question of his
grandfather Bhishma. And Bhishma had told him that he used to have a
brahmana friend from Kalinga. This friend had learned words of wisdom
from a jatismara sage. The sage had told Bhishma’s friend of a
conversation that had once taken place between Yama and Yama’s servant.
Yama told his servant, “Do not touch those who are devoted to Vishnu.
I am the lord of all the others except these. I am not realty independent. I
work under the supervision of Vishnu. He is also capable of punishing me.
Even the gods worship the lotus-like feet of Vishnu. Stay away from the
devotees of Vishnu.”
“How does one become a devotee of Vishnu?” asked the servant.
Yama replied. "Those who do not deviate from what is laid down for
their class, those who make no distinction between friends and enemies,
those who are not thieves, those who are non-violent and those whose
hearts are pure and free of anger, these are the devotees of Vishnu. They
think of Vishnu all the time. And because they think of Vishnu all the time,
they are of pleasing appearance. When Vishnu is in one’s heart, one
commits no sins. Don’t go near such people. For the strength of Vishnu’s
chakra is such that your or mine powers would immediately be destroyed.”
The Four Classes and the Four Stages
The most important way of following Vishnu is to follow the law of the
four classes (varna) and the law of the four stages (ashramas) as laid down
in the shastras (sacred texts).
The four classes are brahmanas, Kshatriyas, vaishyas and shudras. It is
the duty of the brahmana to give alms, worship the gods through sacrifices
and study the Vedas. They should treat all living beings well and not harm
anyone. The most important wealth a brahmana can have is the friendship
of others. A kshatriya should donate to brahmanas, study and perform
sacrifices to Vishnu. But his most important duty is to bear arms to protect
the earth. The king’s duties are to punish the evil and protect the good. The
vaishyas are to do animal husbandry, trade and agriculture. In addition, they
should study, donate alms and perform sacrifices. The shudra’s duty is to
serve the other classes. If it is impossible to make a living through this, the
shudra may make a living through trade or handicrafts.
Common duties of all four classes are kindliness, cleanliness, hard
work, truthfulness, friendship and the capacity to bear hardship. If for some
reason a brahmana cannot make a living through the methods that have
been laid down, he can take up arms and perform the duties of a kshatriya.
Or he can take up agriculture, animal husbandry or trade. A kshatriya can
also take up agriculture, animal husbandry or trade. But a brahmana or a
kshatriya should never take up the duties of a shudra. This is permitted only
in times of great danger or if there is absolutely no other way out. Everyone
should ensure that the duties of the four classes do not get mixed up.
The first of the ashramas is brahmacharya (celibate studenthood).
After he has been invested with his sacred thread, a son should be sent to
his teacher’s house to learn the Vedas. There he will lead a clean life and
pay attention to the rituals. He will serve his guru and study the Vedas. In
the morning and the evening he will pray to the sun and the fire and bow to
his teacher after the prayers are over. The disciple (shishya) will sit only
after the guru sits, he will walk only after the guru walks. He will never
oppose his guru. When the guru asks him to, he will sit down and study the
Vedas. Every morning, the shishya will bring water and flowers for his
guru. Eventually, the shishya will have learnt the Vedas and attained
knowledge. He will then pay the guru the price of the knowledge
(dakshina), take the guru’s permission and prepare to step into the next
ashrama, that of garhasthya (householder stage).
This is the time to get married and choose a proper living. Such a
person has to serve gods through sacrifices, guests through food, rishis
through reading the Vedas, Brahma through having children and the entire
world through truthfulness. In many ways, a garhasthya ashrama is
superior to the others. The brahmanas and those who follow brahmacharya
may have to live through alms. It is the person in garhasthya ashrama who
provides them this. When guests arrive, the householder will offer whatever
he can in the nature of food, seats and beds. If a guest goes away
dissatisfied, he takes away the householder’s punya (store of merits) and
leaves his sins with the householder. A guest is never to be refused.
After a person has lived a full life as a householder, he may proceed to
the forest-dweller stage, vanaprastha. He can take his wife with him or
leave her in the care of his son. He will live in the forest on fruits and roots
and leaves, he will sleep on the ground and he will not cut his hair or shave
his beard. He will worship the gods, tend to guests and give alms to those
who need them. His main duty is meditation.
The final ashrama is that of sannyasa. A person is ready to enter this
when he can give up his sons, wife and all material possessions. To him all
living beings will be friends and he will not harm any living being. He will
live alone and perform yoga (exercises that unite man with God). He will
never stay in a village for more than one night at a time and in a city for
more than five nights at a time. A sannyasi or hermit will beg for his food.
But he will come to a house for alms only after he is sure that everyone in
the house has eaten.
Rituals
There are some rituals to be followed when a son is born and some
others to be followed when a funeral ceremony (shraddha) is to be held.
The father gives a name to the son after the tenth day of birth. There are
eight types of marriage. Their names are Brahma, Daivya, Arsha,
Prajapatya, Asura, Gandharva, Rakshasa and Paishacha. For each varna or
class, specific forms of marriage are prescribed.
There are some rituals that are laid down for a householder. Every day
he must worship gods, cows, brahmanas, sages and elderly teachers. He
should never steal, never lie and never utter what is unpleasant to others. He
should not describe others faults. He should not be envious of other
people’s property. Nor should he associate himself with those who are evil.
He should never enter a burning house or climb to the very top of a tree. He
should cover his mouth when yawning. He should be careful of stepping on
the shadows of gods and flags and those who should be worshipped. One
should not live in a house alone, nor should one go to a forest alone. One
should avoid going near wild beasts.
A good householder does not leave his house before bowing to a
religious object, a flower, a jewel, clarified butter or a respected person.
When he travels at night or goes to a forest, he carries a stick in his hand.
He always wears sandals and uses an umbrella when it rains or when the
sun is out. He is a friend to all beings. He always tells the truth. But when
the truth harms other people, he keeps quiet.
Several rituals have to be followed when a son or daughter gets
married, when a new house is to be entered, when a son is to be named or
when a new-born baby is to be first seen.
When someone dies, the dead body is to be bathed and garlanded. The
dead body must always be burnt outside the village. For a brahmana the
shraddha ceremony takes place after ten days, for a kshatriya after twelve
days, for a vaishya after fifteen days and for a shudra after a month. At a
funeral ceremony an odd number of brahmanas must be fed. If ordinary
food is given to brahmanas at a funeral, the ancestors remain satisfied for a
month. But they are satisfied for two months if fish is given, for three
months if rabbit is given. For four months in the case of the meat of birds,
for five months with pork, for six months with mutton, for seven months
with venison, for eight months if a special sort of deer meat is given, for
nine months with gayal meat, for ten months with lamb, for eleven months
with beef, and forever with the meat of a vardhinasa bird. The best place to
perform a shraddha is Gaya.
Mayamoha
Many years ago there was a war between the devas and the asuras that
lasted for a year. At the end of the war, some daityas named Hrada defeated
the devas. The devas fled to the northern shores of an ocean and there began
to pray to Vishnu. Vishnu appeared before the devas and created for them a
being called Mayamoha out of his own body. Led by Mayamoha, the devas
went to fight with the asuras.
The asuras were performing tapasya on the banks of the river
Narmada. Mayamoha appeared before them dressed in leaves and with a
shaven head. He told them that the best way to attain what the asuras
desired was through the religion preached by Mayamoha. The asuras were
persuaded by Mayamoha to leave the path of the Vedas. The asuras who
adopted this new religion came to be known as arhats. They began to
criticise the Vedas and the devas. Others criticised yajnas and brahmanas.
The asuras were thus dislodged from the righteous path and the devas
attacked them afresh. This time the devas could defeat the asuras, since the
asuras had lost the power of their religion.
Shatadhanu and Shaivya
Many years ago there used to be a king known as Shatadhanu. His wife
Shaivya was a religious woman. Together, they used to pray to Vishnu, on
the banks of the river Bhagirathi. They were not interested in other things.
One day a fraudulent teacher came to them. Shatadhanu spoke to this
person, but Shaivya did not. Some years later, Shatadhanu died and Shaivya
also died with him on the funeral pyre.
Because he had spoken to the false teacher, Shatadhanu was born as a
dog in his next life. And Shaivya was born as a jatismara daughter to the
king of Kashi. When the king of Kashi wished to get his daughter married
off, Shaivya refused. She had learnt that her husband had been born as a
dog and was living in the city of Vidisha. So she went there and met the
dog. She gave it good food to eat. The dog merely wagged its tail. At this,
Shaivya felt ashamed and tried to remind the dog of its earlier life.
Finally the dog did remember its earlier life and this made it very sad.
It left the city and climbed a mountain peak. From there it threw itself down
on the desert and died. This time it was born as a jackal and again Shaivya
met the jackal in the mountain named Kolahala. She reminded the jackal of
its earlier life. Thus reminded, the jackal died in the forest and was born as
a wolf. Shaivya met the wolf and reminded it of its earlier life. When the
wolf died, it was born as a vulture. Shaivya went to meet it. This time, after
the death of the vulture, Shatadhanu was born as a crow. The crow was next
born as a peacock. Shaivya made friends with the peacock.
King Janaka was performing an ashvamedha sacrifice. The peacock
had a bath at the time of the sacrifice. When Shaivya reminded the peacock
of its earlier life, it died. It was now born as the son of Janaka and Shaivya
agreed to marry him. After Janaka died, his son became the ruler of the
kingdom of Videha. In this life Shatadhanu performed many sacrifices and
gave many alms. He had several sons and ruled the kingdom and the earth
well. When he died, Shaivya again died on the funeral pyre with him.
Husband and wife went to heaven.
The story illustrates the evils of speaking to fraudulent people who
have given up the Vedas. One goes straight to naraka if one mixes with
such people.
This is the end of the third section of the Vishnu Purana.
Dynasties
There were many great people in the line of Manu. The first in this line
was Brahma, in the beginning of creation. Vishnu in his form of Brahma
came out of brahmanda. From Brahma’s fingers was born Daksha
Prajapati. Daksha’s daughter was Aditi, Aditi’s son was Surya and Surya’s
son was Manu. Because Manu wanted a son, he prayed to the gods Mitra
and Varuna. From the yqjna that was done, a daughter named Ila came out.
But Manu had really wanted a son. So, for a while, Ila became a son called
Sudyumna.
Chandra’s son was Budha. Sudyumna was one day wandering around
Budha’s ashrama as the girl Ila. Budha married her and they had a son
called Pururava. After Pururava was born, Sudyumna performed sacrifices
so as to become a man again. Once he became a man, he had three sons
called Utkala, Gaya and Vinata.
In this dynasty there was a king called Marutta. Marutta performed a
wonderful yajna. No such yajna has been performed ever since. Every
article used in the ceremony was made of gold. Indra drank a lot of soma
juice and was satisfied. So were the brahmanas. It was the gods who served
the food.
Further down the family tree there was a king called Sharyati. Sharyati
had a daughter named Sukanya. Sukanya was married to the sage
Chyavana. Sharyati also had a son named Anarta and Anarta had a son
named Revata. Revata had one hundred sons, the eldest being Kakudmi,
Kakudmi’s daughter was Revati. Kakudmi did not know who to marry off
this beautiful daughter to. He decided to go to Brahmaloka to ask for
Brahma’s advice. When he reached Brahmaloka, the gandharvas were
singing and Kakudmi decided to listen to the songs for a while. When the
songs were finished, he asked Brahma whom he should get Revati married
to.
“What is your opinion?”, asked Brahma.
Kakudmi named several kings who he thought might be good husbands
for Revati. But Brahma told him that while he had been listening to the
songs in Brahmaloka, several thousand years had passed on earth. These
kings and their sons and grandsons were all dead. In fact, Kakudmi’s capital
Kushasthali was now a city called Dvaraka. And Vishnu had been born as
Baladeva there. There could be no better husband for Revati.
Kakudmi returned to earth and found that men were now much shorter
than they used to be. He married Revati off to Baladeva. But Revati was
very tall. So with his plough, Baladeva pulled Revati down to the right size.
Ikshvaku, Yuvanashva and Soubhari
Manu happened to sneeze once. As a result of the sneeze, a son known
as Ikshvaku came out of his nose. Ikshvaku’s son was Vikukshi. Ikshvaku
wished to perform a shraddha ceremony and sent his son off to the forest to
bring meat for the ceremony. Vikukshi killed many deer and felt hungry and
tired. To satisfy his hunger he ate a rabbit and brought the other meat to his
father, who then offered the meat to Vashishtha who was looking after the
ceremony.
“This meat is unclean,” said the sage, “your son has already eaten the
meat of a rabbit.”
Ikshvaku banished Vikukshi, although Vikukshi did rule the kingdom
after Ikshvaku died. Vikukshi had a very brave son called Paranjaya. The
devas and the asuras once fought a terrible war and the devas could not
defeat the asuras. The devas prayed to Vishnu and Vishnu told them that he
would be born on earth as Paranjaya. Under Paranjaya’s leadership, the
devas would be able to defeat the asuras. So the gods came to Paranjaya
and asked him to be their leader in this war. Paranjaya agreed to do this
only if he could fight the war perched on Indra’s shoulders. Indra adopted
the form of a bull. Paranjaya fought the war seated on the bull. The demons
were defeated. But from the word kakut which means shoulder, Paranjaya
hereafter came to be known as Kakutstha.
Among Kakutstha’s descendants was a king called Yuvanashva.
Yuvanashva did not have any son. He persuaded the sages to perform a
yajna so that he might have a son. The ceremony finished at midnight and
the sages kept the sacred waters of the yajna in a pot for the night. The
intention was to give the sacred waters to Yuvanashva’s wife to drink in the
morning. Then she would have a strong son. But Yuvanashva felt very
thirsty in the night. And without knowing that the waters in the pot were
sacred, drank them by mistake. So a baby came into Yuvanashva’s body and
grew bigger and bigger. When the time came for the baby to be born, it
burst out through the king’s right side, although the king did not die. But the
problem was, who would be a mother to the baby? Given the peculiar
circumstances, Indra agreed to be the mother. He came and said, “Mam
dhata”, which means “I will be the nurse.” The baby thus came to be
known as Mandhata. Because Indra was rearing him, he became fully
grown in a single day. He ruled the entire world from where the sun rises to
where it sets.
During Mandhata’s reign, a sage named Soubhari lived under the water
for twelve years. He used to see the king of the fishes play in the water with
his children and grand-children. This made Soubhari feel that he should
also have children and grand-children. But to do this, he needed to get
married.
Mandhata had fifty daughters. Soubhari went to Mandhata and wanted
one of these daughters in marriage. Mandhata did not like the look of
Soubhari’s diseased body. But at the same time, he was scared that he might
be cursed if he refused. So he said that the custom of his family was that
daughters married bridegrooms whom they chose and approved of.
Soubhari realised that this was merely a ploy of Mandhata’s to avoid giving
a daughter in marriage to a diseased old man. Soubhari therefore requested
that he might be given one chance to meet the daughters of Mandhata. If
any one of them wished to marry him, only then would he marry. If all of
them refused to marry him, he would go away and no more would be heard
of the matter.
This seemed to be a reasonable enough request and Mandhata agreed.
But Soubhari was a powerful sage. Before meeting the daughters, he
transformed himself into a very handsome man. He was so handsome that
all the daughters wished to marry him. The result was that Soubhari was
married to all the fifty daughters and took them to his ashrama. He then
called Vishvakarma and asked Vishvakarma to build separate palaces for
the fifty wives. Each palace was to have a lake with lotuses and swans, each
palace was to have a pleasure garden and beautiful beds, seats and jewels.
Vishvakarma did as he had been instructed.
After some days, Mandhata wished to find out how his daughters were.
He came to the ashrama and saw the beautiful palaces and pleasure
gardens. He entered one of the palaces and met one of his daughters there.
“How are you, daughter?”, he asked.
“I live in a wonderful palace, father.” the daughter replied. “Look at
this pleasure garden, look at these beautiful birds and the gorgeous lake. I
eat good food and wear nice clothes and jewels. I am very happy. The only
complaint that I have is this. My husband spends all his time with me, he
never leaves me. This means that he must be neglecting my sisters.”
Mandhata came out of this palace and went into another. To his great
surprise, the second daughter said exactly the same thing. In fact, this is
what all the daughters said. For what had happened was that Soubhari had
created fifty different forms of himself with the powers of his tapasya.
Mandhata had never witnessed anything like this. He fell down at
Soubhari’s feet and begged for forgiveness.
Soubhari had a hundred and fifty sons to whom he got quite attached.
But after some time he realised the dangers of such attachment. It had made
him deviate from his path of tapasya. He realised the illusions he had been
living with ever since he had seen the king of the fishes. He devoted the rest
of his life to Vishnu.
Sagara
There were many powerful kings among Mandhata’s descendants. One
of these was Purukutsa. Many years ago, the underworld was occupied by
the gandharvas. They upset the rule of the snakes (nagas) and stole their
jewels. The besieged nagas prayed to Vishnu for deliverance. Vishnu told
them that he would enter Purukutsa’s body and thus destroy the
gandharvas. The nagas sent the river Narmada to bring Purukutsa down to
the underworld and Purukutsa destroyed all the gandharvas. The happy
snakes granted Narmada a boon. Whoever says, “I pray to Narmada
morning and evening; Narmada, protect me from snake poison,” will never
be bitten by snakes.
In the same dynasty was born King Vahu. Vahu lost a war with some
other kings and went to the forest with his wife. There Vahu’s wife was
about to give birth to a baby. But Vahu had another wife as well. And out of
jealousy, the second wife gave the first wife some poison. The result was
that the baby did not come out but stayed inside the mother for seven years.
King Vahu died in the hermitage of the sage Ourva. And Vahu’s wife also
wished to die on the funeral pyre.
But Ourva told her, “Queen, what are you doing? You are carrying a
son who will be the bravest of the brave. He will conquer many lands and
perform many sacrifices. Don’t die on the funeral pyre.”
The son was born and Ourva named the child Sagara. He taught the
boy the Vedas, the shastras and the art of fighting. When he grew up,
Sagara wished to win back his father’s lost kingdom. He defeated the
enemy kings and ruled over the entire world.
Sagara had two wives, Sumati and Keshini. These two prayed to Ourva
that they might have sons. Ourva granted them the boon that one of them
would have a single son, while the other would have sixty thousand sons.
Keshini wanted the single son, whereas Sumati wanted the sixty thousand
sons. This is what happened and Keshini’s son was called Asamanjas. But
all these sons turned out to be quite evil. The gods went to the sage Kapila
and asked him to rescue the world from the bad deeds of Sagara’s sons.
At the time, King Sagara was performing an ashvamedha yajna (horse
sacrifice) and his sons were the protectors of the sacrificial horse. Someone
stole this horse and took it down to the underworld. The sons of Sagara
looked for the horse and followed its trail down to the underworld. They
found the horse wandering around in the underworld and not far from the
horse, they saw the sage Kapila. They concluded that Kapila must have
stolen the horse and attacked the sage with their weapons. But a terrible fire
issued out of Kapila’s eyes and reduced Sagara’s sons into ashes.
Asamanjas had a son known as Amshumana. On learning that his sons
had been burnt into ashes, Sagara sent Amshumana to fetch the horse.
Amshumana went to Kapila and began to pray to him. Pleased at this,
Kapila offered to grant Amshumana a boon and Amshumana desired that
his uncles might go to heaven.
Kapila said, “Your grandson will bring down the river Ganga from
heaven. When the water of the Ganga touches the bones of your uncles,
they will ascend to heaven.”
Amshumana’s son was Dilipa and Dilipa’s son was Bhagiratha. It was
Bhagiratha who brought Ganga down from heaven. That is why Ganga is
also known as Bhagirathi.
Soudasa
In Bhagiratha’s line there was a king called Soudasa or Mitrasaha. One
day the king went out hunting in the forest and saw two tigers there. He
killed one of these with his arrow and before dying, it adopted the form of a
fierce rakshasa. The other tiger said. “I will have my revenge” and
disappeared.
Some days later, King Soudasa began a yajna. The priest for this yajna
was the sage Vashishtha. Vashishtha finished his rituals and left. But the
rakshasa adopted Vashishtha's form and sat down in Vashishtha’s place. “At
the end of the ceremony get me some rice and meat to eat,” he said. “I am
returning in a short while.” Having said this, the rakshasa went away. But it
adopted the form of a cook and cooked some human meat. Unknowingly,
King Soudasa placed this meat in a golden vessel and waited for
Vashishtha’s return.
When Vashishtha sat down to eat he was served this meat. In a trice he
realised that this was human meat, and he cursed that Soudasa would
become a rakshasa. But through his mental powers Vashishtha also learnt
that much of the trouble had been caused not by Soudasa, but by the
rakshasa. So he reduced the duration of the curse such that Soudasa would
have to be a rakshasa only for twelve years.
But Soudasa still thought that he had been unfairly cursed. So he took
some water in his hand and prepared to curse Vashishtha. At this, Soudasa’s
wife Madayanti said, “What are you doing? Don’t curse Vashishtha. He is
our guru.”
Soudasa refrained from uttering the curse. But what was to be done
with the water that he had taken in his hand? Since it was water meant for a
curse, if it were to be thrown onto the ground or up into the sky, the grain
and the clouds would be destroyed. So Soudasa poured the water onto his
own feet and his feet became diseased and black. He came to be known as
Kalmashapada.
As a rakshasa, Kalmashapada lived in the forest and ate people. In the
forest he once met a brahmana and his wife. He proceeded to eat the
brahmana, although his wife begged him for mercy. At this, the brahmana’s
wife cursed him that he would die as soon as he met his own wife.
After twelve years the king was freed of Vashishtha’s curse. But he
refrained from going near his wife because of the other curse.
In this line was born Rama, who destroyed Ravana. Rama’s brothers
were Lakshmana, Bharata and Shatrughna. Bharata destroyed three crores
of gandharvas. Shatrughna defeated a rakshasa named Lavana and built the
city of Mathura. Rama’s sons were Kusha and Lava. Lakshmana’s sons
were Angada and Chandraketu, Bharata’s sons were Taksha and Pushkara
and Shatrughna’s sons were Suvahu and Sharasena.
Nimi
Ikshvaku had a son named Nimi. Nimi once started a yajna that went
on for a thousand years. He wanted Vashishtha to be the main priest. But
Vashishtha said that he was already busy with the yajna that Indra planned
to conduct for five hundred years. He asked Nimi to wait. He promised to
come to Nimi’s yajna as soon as Indra’s was over.
Nimi returned without saying anything and Vashishtha assumed that
Nimi had agreed to wait. But Nimi began his ceremony with Goutama and
other sages. After finishing Indra’s yajna, Vashishtha came to Nimi’s yajna
expecting to be the chief priest there. But he found that the sacrifice had
already been begun with Goutama as the chief priest. Since he felt insulted,
Vashishtha cursed Nimi that he would henceforth be without a body. Nimi
felt this curse to be unfair. So he too cursed that Vashishtha would be
without a body. Vashishtha however, received another body. Thanks to the
gods Mitra and Varuna.
Meanwhile, King Nimi’s body lay there, oiled and perfumed. When the
yajna was over, the assembled gods wished to give the host of the yajna a
boon. They wished to give Nimi a new body but Nimi said that he would
have none of it. He desired instead that he might be allowed to live on the
eyelids of people. This boon was granted. Nimi lives on the eyelids of all
people and that is why the blinking of the eyelids is known as nimesha.
But Nimi had no son and the kingdom would have gone to ruins in the
absence of a son. So the sages pounded the dead body with wood and a son
emerged. Since he came out in this fashion from his father’s body he came
to be known as Janaka (father). And since his father had no body, Janaka
was also called Vaideha (bodyless). When Janaka was ploughing the earth
to obtain a son, a daughter came out of the earth. She was named Sita.
Chandra
Having heard accounts of the kings of the solar dynasty, Maitreya
wished to hear of the kings of the lunar dynasty. Parashara obliged.
Brahma’s son was Atri and Atri’s son was Chandra. Brahma made
Chandra the ruler of stars and herbs. Chandra performed a rajasuya yajna
(royal sacrifice). But because he successfully completed a rajasuya yajna,
Chandra became arrogant. The guru of all the devas was Brihaspati and
Brihaspati’s wife was Tara. Chandra kidnapped Tara. Despite Brihaspati’s
repeatedly requesting him to return Tara, Chandra refused. A war began
between the two sides. Since Shukra did not like Brihaspati, Shukra took
Chandra’s side. Also on Chandra’s side were the danavas. Rudra and Indra
sided with Brihaspati.
Since the war took place over Tara, it came to be known as the
tarakamaya war. It was a terrible war and it seemed as if the whole world
might be destroyed. The entire world asked Brahma to mediate and stop the
war. Brahma stopped the war and returned Tara to Brihaspati.
But Chandra and Tara had a son and this son was called Budha. Budha
married Ila and their son was called Pururava. Mitra and Varuna once
cursed the apsara Urvashi that she would have to spend some time on earth.
Urvashi appeared before King Pururava and the two happened to like each
other. Pururava requested Urvashi to be his wife and Urvashi accepted,
subject to a condition. Two sheep were to stay forever near her bed and if
the sheep were to be ever stolen, Urvashi would return to heaven. Pururava
readily agreed. They lived quite happily for sixty thousand years.
Urvashi had no desire to return to heaven. But in Urvashi’s absence the
gandharvas of heaven felt very lonely; they plotted ways of taking Urvashi
back to heaven. One night they stole the two sheep. And since the condition
was broken, Urvashi went back to heaven. Pururava and Urvashi however,
had six sons, the eldest being Ayu.
But to remind Pururava of Urvashi, the gandharvas taught him the
secret of fire and the king was instructed to divide this fire into three types.
Earlier there used to be only one sort of fire. But Pururava introduced the
three types of fire known as Garhapatya, Ahavaniya and Dakshina.
In Pururava’s line was born Jahnu. Jahnu once saw that the bowl he
used for his yajna was flooded with the water of the Ganga. He thereupon
drank up the entire Ganga and restored the river only when the devarshis so
requested. That is why Ganga is also called Jahnavi.
Satyavati and Richika
Gadhi was descended from Jahnu. Gadhi had a daughter called
Satyavati. The sage Richika wanted to marry Satyavati. But Gadhi had no
desire to marry off his daughter to an old brahmana who was also very hot-
tempered. So he demanded one thousand horses in return for his daughter.
These horses were to be fleet of foot and white in colour with black ears.
But Richika managed to get such horses from Varuna and thus married
Satyavati.
Satyavati wanted a son. So Richika performed a yajna and obtained
some rice pudding as a result. But Satyavati wished that her mother might
also have a son. Richika, therefore, prepared a second bowl of rice pudding.
He gave the two bowls to Satyavati and said, “This is for you and this is for
your mother.” He then went off to the forest.
But Satyavati’s mother said to her daughter, “Usually people want good
sons for themselves, they are not keen about obtaining a good brother-in-
law. I therefore suspect that your rice pudding is better than mine. Let us
exchange bowls. I am a queen and my son will rule the world. He has to be
strong. Your son will be a brahmana. He does not have to be that
powerful.” They exchanged the bowls.
Richika came back from the forest and heard what had happened. He
was very angry. Into Satyavati’s mother’s bowl he had put the ingredients
for a son who would be brave and violent as a kshatriya should be. And into
Satyavati’s bowl he had put the ingredients for a son who would be peaceful
and non-violent as a brahmana should be. As it was, everything had now
been reversed.
On hearing this, Satyavati begged forgiveness and requested that her
grandson, rather than her son, should be brave and violent. This request
Richika granted. Satyavati’s mother gave birth to Vishvamitra. And
Satyavati gave birth to Jamadagni. Jamadagni married Renuka. Their son
Parashurama killed many kshatriyas.
Raji
Pururava’s son Ayu had five sons. Their names were Nahusha,
Kshatravriddha, Rambha, Raji and Anenah. Raji had five hundred brave
sons. Many years ago, the devas and the asuras fought a war. Both the
devas and the asuras went to Brahma and asked. “Who will win this war?”
Brahma replied that the side for which King Raji fought would win.
The asuras came to Raji and asked him to fight on their side. “I will,”
said Raji. “provided that you make me Indra after the devas have been
defeated.”
"This we cannot do,” replied the asuras. “We cannot promise you one
thing and do another. Prahlada will be our Indra.”
The gods too came to Raji and asked him to fight on their side. And
faced with the same condition, they replied. “Yes indeed, you will be our
Indra.”
Raji fought on the side of the gods and killed the demons. After the
enemy had been defeated, Indra touched Raji’s feet and said, “You have
protected us, so you are like my father. And since I am Indra, my father is
obviously the supreme ruler of the world.” Although Raji saw through the
flattery, he permitted Indra to continue as the king of the gods and returned
to his capital.
But after Raji died, Raji’s sons demanded that Indra should hand over
that which had been promised to them. This Indra refused to do. So Raji’s
sons defeated Indra and themselves assumed the title of Indra. After many
years had passed, Indra went to Brihaspati and prayed that his kingdom
might be returned to him. Brihaspati performed sacrifices so that Indra’s
powers might Increase and slowly weaned Raji’s sons away from the path
of righteousness. He made them do evil deeds and turned their minds
against the Vedas and the brahmanas. Indra could now easily defeat and kill
the sons of Raji. He assumed the title of Indra.
Nahusha and Yayati
Nahusha had six sons. Their names were Yati, Yayati, Samyati, Ayati,
Viyati and Kriti. Yati had no desire to be king, so Yayati became king after
Nahusha. Yayati had two wives. The first was Shukra’s daughter Devayani
and the second was Vrishaparva’s daughter Sharmishtha. Devayani’s sons
were Yadu and Turvasu. And Sharmishtha’s sons were Druhya, Anu and
Puru.
Because of a curse imposed on him by Shukra, Yayati became old
much before he should have been. He called his eldest son Yadu to him and
said, “I have become old much before my time. I still want to enjoy
material things. Please take my old age for a thousand years.” Yadu refused
and Yayati cursed him that no son worthy of being a king would ever be
born in the line of Yadu. Yayati asked Turvasu, Druhya and Anu. But they
too refused and were given the same curse by their father. Then Yayati
asked Puru and Puru immediately agreed to his father’s request. He took
upon himself his father’s old age and gave his father his own youth.
Yayati immersed himself in material pursuits. But after having spent
many such years in enjoying life, he got tired of it all. He got back his old
age from Puru and returned Puru’s youth to him. Yayati made Puru the king
and went off to do tapasya in the forest. Turvasu, Druhya and Anu merely
received very small kingdoms that surrounded Puru’s kingdom.
In Yadu’s line was born Arjuna. This Arjuna prayed to Dattatreya and
obtained several boons from him. The first boon was that Arjuna would
have a thousand arms. The second was that he would fight adharma and
serve the cause of dharma, fight the evil and serve the good. The third was
that enemies would not be able to defeat him. And the fourth and final boon
was that Arjuna would be killed by someone who would be famous
throughout the world. This Arjuna came to be known as Kartaviryarjuna.
He performed ten thousand yajnas and ruled for eighty-five thousand years.
The name of his capital was Mahishmati. Once Ravana invaded this city
and was defeated and imprisoned by Arjuna. Eventually Arjuna was killed
by Parashurama. All who were descended from Yadu, were known as
Yadavas.
The Jewel Syamantaka
Krishna’s wife was Satyabhama and Satyabhama’s father was Satrajit.
Satrajit sat down on the shores of the ocean and began to pray to Surya.
Surya was pleased with his prayers and appeared before Satrajit.
Satrajit could not see Surya very well and said, “Lord, in the sky you
appear like a burning ball of fire. Yet you have appeared before me and I
am not able to see much.”
Surya was wearing a jewel known a syamantaka on his throat. On
hearing what Satrajit had said, Surya took off this jewel and laid it aside.
Satrajit could now see Surya properly. Surya’s eyes were brownish yellow
and his body was bright, short and of a copper colour. Satrajit bowed down
before Surya and Surya offered to grant him a boon. As a boon, Satrajit
wanted the jewel and Surya granted this wish.
Satrajit put it round his neck and entered the city of Dvarka. But
because he was wearing the jewel, his body was radiant and energy seemed
to flow out of him. The citizens of Dvarka at first thought that it was Surya
himself who was entering the city.
Satrajit kept the jewel in his house. Every day it produced gold. And
thanks to its influence, disease, drought, wild animals, fire and theft
disappeared from the kingdom. Krishna thought that the syamantaka Jewel
should really belong to the king Ugrasena. Satrajit was aware of this desire
of Krishna’s. Scared that he might be compelled to part with the jewel, he
gave it to his brother Prasena for safe keeping. The jewel had the property
that if someone pure held it, it would produce gold. But if someone impure
held it, it would kill the holder.
One day Prasena wore the jewel around his neck and went off on a
hunt. In the forest he was killed by a lion. The lion was about to go off with
the jewel, when Jambavan, the king of the bears, arrived on the scene.
Jambavan killed the lion and took the jewel. He returned to his home land
gave it to his young son to play with.
Meanwhile, the citizens of Dvarka noticed that Prasena was not
returning from the hunt. There was a general impression that Krishna had
had his eyes on the Jewel. So a rumour went around that it was Krishna
who had killed Prasena and stolen the syamantaka. To put an end to such
rumours, Krishna followed Prasena’s trail into the forest. There he
discovered two dead bodies, Prasena’s and the lion’s. He guessed what must
have happened. He followed the trail right upto Jambavan’s hole and
discovered Jambavan’s son playing with the jewel. The child’s nursemaid
raised an alarm on seeing Krishna and Jambavan quickly arrived. A terrible
fight raged between Krishna and Jambavan. This fight went on for twenty-
one days. Several Yadava soldiers had also followed Krishna upto
Jambavan’s hole. When seven or eight days had passed and still there was
no sign of Krishna, they concluded that Krishna must have been killed.
They, therefore, spread the news of Krishna’s death.
Krishna’s friends arranged a shraddha ceremony and the offerings
made at this funeral ceremony served to increase Krishna’s strength.
Krishna finally defeated Jambavan and Jambavan bowed down before him.
The two became friends and Jambavan married off his daughter Jambavati
to Krishna. He also returned the syamantaka jewel.
The citizens of Dvarka were delighted to see Krishna and Jambavati.
Krishna told them what had happened and returned the jewel to Satrajit.
Satrajit was ashamed that he had ever doubted Krishna. He therefore gave
his daughter Satyabhama in marriage to Krishna.
But there were other Yadavas like Akrura, Kritavarma and Shatadhanva
who had also wanted to marry Satyabhama and they were not at all happy at
this turn of events. They thought that they had been insulted. Hearing that
the Pandavas had been burnt to death in the house of lac, Krishna went on a
trip to Varanavata. Taking advantage of Krishna’s absence, Shatadhanva
killed Satrajit while the latter was sleeping and stole the Jewel.
Satyabhama was furious that her father had been killed. She got up on
her chariot and drove it to Varanavata to tell Krishna what had happened.
Krishna came back to Dvarka and told Baladeva that the two of them
should get together and kill Shatadhanva. Shatadhanva ran for help to
Kritavarma, but Kritavarma refused to oppose Krishna and Baladeva.
Shatadhanva then ran to Akrura, only to be met with another refusal.
Shatadhanva then asked Akrura to at least keep the jewel for him. This
Akrura agreed to do, provided that Shatadhanva did not tell anyone where
the jewel was.
Shatadhanva got up on a fast horse and fled. But Krishna and Baladeva
followed him on a chariot. After travelling for a long distance, Shatadhanva
came to the forests on the outskirts of Mithila. His horse died. He started to
flee on foot. At this, Krishna said that he would follow Shatadhanva on
foot. He asked Baladeva to wait for him in the chariot.
Krishna caught up with Shatadhanva and sliced off his head. But
despite searching all Shatadhanva’s belongings, he could not find the jewel.
He came and reported this to Baladeva. But unfortunately, Baladeva did not
believe this. He said. “Krishna, you are not a brother I would like to
associate with. Go your own way and I will go mine. We do not belong
together.” Baladeva went off to the kingdom of Videha and lived there as a
guest of King Janaka’s. It was then that Duryodhana learnt from Baladeva
how to fight with the mace (gada).
Krishna returned to Dvarka. After three years had passed, Vabhru,
Ugrasena and the other Yadavas managed to convince Baladeva that
Krishna had indeed not stolen the jewel. Baladeva then returned to Dvarka.
Meanwhile, Akrura started to perform many yajnas. It is a crime to kill
someone who is performing a yajna. Akrura reasoned that even if Krishna
got to know that he possessed the jewel. Krishna would not kill him as long
as he was performing a sacrifice. The sacrifices went on for sixty-two years.
And because the jewel was in Dvarka, disease and other evil things
disappeared from the city.
But some relatives of Akrura’s killed some other Yadavas and fled the
city. Akrura also fled with them. And the moment this happened, wild
beasts, drought and disease returned to Dvarka. At first people thought that
this was happening because a holy man like Akrura had left the city. Akrura
was therefore brought back and immediately the wild beasts, drought and
disease disappeared.
Krishna, however, reasoned that all this could not be happening simply
because Akrura was a holy man. There must be more to it than that. How
was it that Akrura performed one yajna after another? Where did he get the
money? He was not a rich man. He must therefore have the Jewel.
Krishna called an assembly of the Yadavas in his house. And there he
told Akrura, “We all know that Shatadhanva had left the syamantaka jewel
with you. Let the jewel remain with you, there is no harm in that. We are all
gaining from its presence here in the city. But Baladeva suspects that I have
stolen it. Will you please show it to him once to set his suspicions at rest?”
Akrura reasoned that if he lied, they might search his clothes and
discover the jewel. So he took out the jewel from a golden box that he kept
hidden inside his clothes. He offered it to the Yadava who was most worthy
of it.
The jewel was so attractive that Baladeva also began to covet it. So did
Satyabhama, since she thought that if the jewel had belonged to her father it
was now rightfully hers. Krishna felt that a quarrel was imminent and
intervened. He said, “This jewel brings happiness to the kingdom only if
someone pure wears it. If someone impure wears it, the wearer is destroyed.
I should not wear it, I am not really pure, I have sixteen thousand wives.
For the same reason, let not Satyabhama possess it. Nor should Baladeva
have it, he drinks all the time. Let the jewel stay with Akrura.” And this was
agreed to.
Shishupala
In an earlier life, Shishupala had been Hiranyakashipu. He was
subsequently born as Shishupala, the son of Dama Ghosha, the King of
Chedi. His mother was Shrutashrava, the sister of Vasudeva, Krishna’s
father. Just as Hiranyakashipu was killed by Vishnu, Shishupala was killed
by Krishna. Shishupala had also been born as Ravana and had been killed
by Rama.
Shantanu and Devapi
In the line of Kuru there used to be a king known as Pratipa. Pratipa
had three sons, Devapi, Shantanu and Vahlika. Devapi left for the forest
when he was very young and Shantanu became king.
For twelve years there was no rain in Shantanu’s kingdom. To find out
why, King Shantanu called all the brahmanas. The brahmanas explained
that this was happening because Devapi should rightfully have been the
king. An elder son is the person who should rule, unless of course the elder
son happens to be an outright sinner. To make the rains come, it was thus
imperative that Devapi should be brought back as king.
Shantanu had a minister named Ashmasari. This minister sent a
preacher to Devapi in the forest. The preacher preached against the Vedas.
Slowly the preacher turned Devapi’s mind away from the holy texts. When
the brahmanas and Shantanu went to the forest to offer the kingdom to
Devapi, they found that Devapi was saying various things that were against
the Vedas. Devapi had thus become a sinner and the kingdom was not
offered to him. Shantanu continued to be the king and now it rained.
Shantanu and Ganga married and they had a son called Bhishma.
Shantanu also married Satyavati and had two sons called Vichitravirya and
Chitrangada. Dhritarashtra and Pandu were descended from Vichitravirya.
The five sons of Pandu, the Pandavas, married Draupadi and Draupadi's
sons were Prativindhya, Sutasoma, Shrutakiriti, Shantanika and
Shrutakarma. The Pandavas had other sons as well. Yudhishthira married
Youdheyi and had a son called Devaka. Bhima married Hidimba and had a
son called Ghatotkacha. He also married Kashi and had a son called
Sarvatraga. Nakula married Karenumati and had a son called Niramitra.
Sahadeva married Vijaya and had a son called Suhotra. Arjuna had many
wives. From Ulupi he had a son called Iravan, from Chitrangada he had a
son called Babhruvahana and from Subhadra he had a son called
Abhimanyu.
Kali
The Vishnu Purana says that in future there will be a king called
Mahapadmananda. Like a second Parashurama, he will destroy all the
kshatriyas. The shudras will then become kings. Mahapadma will have
eight sons and he and his sons will rule the earth for a hundred years. But a
brahmana named Koutilya will kill all of them, and the shudra kings
known as the Mauryas will rule. Koutilya will make Chandragupta king.
The Maurya kings will rule for a hundred and thirty-seven years. Then
the Shunga kings will rule for a hundred and twelve years. After that the
Kanva kings will rule for forty-five years. Then the Andhra kings will rule
for four hundred and fifty-six years. Then there will be various dynasties
known as the Abhiras, Gardhabhilas, Shakas, Yavanas, Tukharas, Mundas,
Mounas, Pouras, Kailakilas, Vahlikas, Nishadas, Nagas, Magadhas and
Guptas.
The kali era will be a terrible period. Subjects will flee to the
mountains because they will not be able to bear the taxes levied by the
kings. They will not have food to eat and clothes to wear. Dharma will be
destroyed. Vishnu will be born again as Kalki to destroy all the evil-doers.
It is after this that dharma will be established. Kali yuga will last for three
lakh and sixty thousand years.
This is the end of the fourth section of the Vishnu Purana.
Vasudeva and Devaki
Vasudeva married Devaka’s daughter Devaki. Kansa drove the chariot
of the couple on the occasion of the marriage. At that time, divine words
were heard from the sky. A voice said, “Stupid Kansa, whom are you
driving in the chariot? The eighth child of this woman is going to kill you.”
When he heard this, Kansa took up his sword and wanted to kill
Devaki. But Vasudeva said, “Brave warrior, do not kill Devaki. Rest assured
that I will hand over to you all the children who are born.” Kansa agreed to
this arrangement.
At that time, Prithivi (the earth) went to the gods on Mount Sumeru
and complained. She said that the daityas who had been born on earth were
creating havoc there. Many years ago, a daitya known as Kalanemi had
been destroyed by Vishnu. This Kalanemi had now been born as Kansa, the
son of Ugrasena. He had got together with other evil and powerful kings
like Arishta, Dhenuka, Keshi, Pralamba, Naraka, Sunda and Vanasura. All
this oppression was proving to be too much for the earth.
Brahma corroborated what the earth had said. He said. “Let us all go to
the northern shores of the great ocean and pray to Vishnu there. Whenever
something like this happens, Vishnu is born on earth to protect the cause of
dharma.”
On hearing these prayers, Vishnu appeared before Brahma and the
other gods. He heard what the gods had to say and tore off two hairs from
his head. These two hairs of mine will be born on earth to destroy the
asuras. he said. “And all these other gods will also be born on earth to fight
with the asuras.” Before disappearing, he also added. “I shall be born as the
eighth child of Devaki.”
Kansa heard all this from the sage Narada. He was furious and
imprisoned Vasudeva and Devaki. One by one, six sons were born to
Devaki and Kansa killed each of these sons. Vasudeva had another wife
known as Rohini who lived in Gokula. The seventh son was magically
transferred from Devaki to Rohini so that Kansa never got a chance to kill
it. This son grew up to be Sankarshana.
When Vishnu entered Devaki’s body, Devaki looked so bright that no
one could bear to glance at her. Krishna was finally born during the
monsoon in the month of Shravana. (The accounts in different Puranas do
not always agree. In some other accounts, it is stated that Krishna was born
in the month of Bhadra.) The actual date was the eighth day of
krishnapaksha. He was born right at the stroke of midnight. All the sages
were happy at this birth, the winds and the rivers became peaceful. The
gandharvas sang and the apsaras danced. The gods showered down flowers
from the sky.
Since there was the danger that Kansa might kill the baby, Vasudeva,
proposed to leave the child somewhere else. The guards slept, the prison
door opened and the chains fell away by the grace of Vishnu. It was raining
furiously that night. But a great snake held up its hood to protect Vasudeva
and the baby. Vasudeva had to cross the river Yamuna which was very deep.
But thanks to Vishnu, the water never rose above his thighs. Vasudeva
crossed the river and met Nanda and the other cowherds. Yashoda had given
birth to a daughter known as Yogamaya. Vasudeva placed Krishna on
Yashoda’s bed and removed Yogamaya. He then returned to the prison with
Yogamaya.
The guards woke up and reported to Kansa that Devaki had given birth
to a child. Kansa rushed to the prison, picked up the baby and threw it down
on the stones so as to kill it. But Yogamaya was really a goddess who had
been sent by Vishnu. When Kansa threw her down, the baby rose up into
the air and adopted the eight-armed form of the goddess. “Stupid Kansa,”
she said, “the person who will kill you has already been born. It was he who
had killed you in your last birth.” So saying, Yogamaya disappeared into the
sky.
Kansa called all his evil friends together and said. “My friends, the
mischievous devas are trying to get me killed, but because I am brave. I am
not going to pay any attention to this. Have you not seen how Indra fled like
a coward before my arrows? In this whole world I am not scared of anyone
other than my guru Jarasandha. These attempts of the devas make me
laugh. Nevertheless, one has to be careful as I have been told that Devaki’s
son will kill me. We have to kill any male child who seems to be unduly
strong.”
He saw no further point in detaining Vasudeva and Devaki. He released
them and said, “I have unnecessarily killed your children but that must have
been their fate. The person who is to kill me must have been born
somewhere else.”
The Death of Putana and Other Incidents
Nanda and the other cowherds had come to Mathura to pay taxes to the
king. Upon his release, Vasudeva congratulated Nanda for the birth of
Nanda’s son. He did not tell Nanda that the son was really his. He told
Nanda to quickly return to Gokula and take care of Nanda’s own son as
well as Vasudeva’s other son who was with Rohini.
The cowherds returned to Gokula. One night in Gokula, Putana came
to feed the young Krishna. Putana was evil. The limbs of any child she fed
at night got destroyed. But Krishna grasped Putana and began to drink her
life out of her. With a thunderous noise Putana fell down and died.
Another time, the baby Krishna was lying down under a cart. He felt
very hungry and was crying and kicking his legs up in the air. As a result of
his kicking, the cart got overturned and all the pots and vats that were on
the cart got broken. Everyone came running to see what had happened.
They were very surprised to find that such a small baby had over turned a
huge cart. Yashoda worshipped the cart with curds, flowers and fruit.
The sage Garga came to Gokula and named the two sons. Rohini’s son
was named Rama and Yoshada’s son was named Krishna. Soon the babies
learnt to crawl, and smeared with cowdung, roamed around everywhere.
They went into the cowsheds and pulled the tails of calves.
On one particular day Yashoda got tired of all this. She got hold of
some ropes and tied up Krishna to a thresher. Then she went away to do her
housework. Krishna pulled and tugged at the thresher. There were two big
arjuna trees that grew not very far away. Krishna dragged the thresher to
these trees and tried to pass through the space between them. But the
thresher got stuck in the space between the two arjuna trees. And as
Krishna pulled and tugged, the huge trees were uprooted and fell down to
the ground. At the tremendous noise everyone came running. They found
the uprooted trees on the ground. And Krishna sat there amongst the
wreckage, smiling. The rope that Yashoda had tied around his stomach was
still there. Because a rope is called dama, Krishna came to be known as
Damodara.
But the cowherds of Gokula were worried at what they thought were
bad omens. First there was the death of Putana, next there was the
overturning of the huge cart and finally there was the uprooting of the trees.
They were not aware that Krishna was responsible for all this. They thought
that some terrible danger was about to befall Gokula. So with their carts and
their cattle, they left for Vrindavana.
Rama and Krishna grew up there. They looked after the calves, they
played in the fields, they wore peacock feathers on their heads and they
played the flute. Amongst their close friends were Shakha and Vishakha.
Kaliya Humbled
Part of the Yamuna river was known as the spot of Kaliya. Kaliya was
a huge snake that lived in the water. Because the snake lived at that spot, all
the trees along the banks were scorched. And if any birds flew over the area
and the spray of the water struck them, the birds immediately died. Krishna
realised that this snake was none other than the snake which had been
defeated by Garuda in the ocean. It had now fled from the ocean and had
made a home in the Yamuna. The result was that no one could drink the
water of the Yamuna at that spot.
Krishna resolved to kill the snake. He tied his clothes firmly around his
body and jumped into the water from a kadamba tree. As Krishna jumped
into the river, the spray struck the trees along the bank and because the
spray was poisoned by the poison of the snake, the trees began to burn.
Krishna began to swim in the water. On hearing the sound, Kaliya
quickly arrived there. His eyes were red with anger and flames issued out of
his mouth. He was surrounded on all sides by poisonous snakes and the
wives of those snakes also accompanied them. All the snakes coiled round
Krishna’s body and began to bite and inject venom into him.
Some cowherds saw Krishna in the water, surrounded by snakes. They
rushed back to Vrindavana and told everyone what they had seen. Nanda,
Yoshada, Rama and the others all came running to the banks of the river.
“Where is Krishna, where is Krishna?”, screamed Yashoda.
They all saw Krishna in the water in the midst of the snakes. The
women began to cry. Some of them proposed that they should also kill
themselves if Krishna had indeed died. Hearing all this commotion,
Balarama Indicated to Krishna that it was high time that he killed the snake.
Krishna then shook off the coils of the snake. He lowered Kaliya's
hood and climbed up on the top of the hood. There he began to dance. At
this the hood began to bleed. Whenever the snake tried to raise his hood,
Krishna stamped down with his feet. The snake became unconscious and
began to vomit blood. The head and the neck broke and blood began to
issue out of these parts as well.
Kaliya’s wives then prayed to Krishna. They begged for mercy. They
asked him to spare Kaliya’s life. Kaliya also started to pray to Krishna. At
this, Krishna spared the snake. But the condition was that Kaliya and his
servants and relatives would have to leave the waters of the Yamuna and go
back to the ocean. Henceforth, the mark of Krishna’s feet would stay on
Kaliya’s hood. And seeing this mark Garuda would not pester Kaliya
anymore.
The waters of the Yamuna were purified.
The Killing of Dhenukasura
One day, Balarama and Krishna were wandering around in the forest
and came to a grove where there were a lot of tala trees. A daitya who
looked like a donkey lived there and survived on deer meat. His name was
Dhenuka.
The tala trees were full of rich fruit and the other cowherds wished to
help themselves to the fruit. The problem, however, was Dhenukasura, who
guarded the tala trees. The cowherds, therefore, requested Balarama and
Krishna to pluck some fruit for them. Two brothers proceeded to do this.
But as the fruit fell on the ground, the sound attracted the angry Dhenuka
who arrived on the scene. With its hind legs the donkey kicked Balarama in
the chest. But Balarama caught hold of those legs and began to twirl the
donkey round and round. At this, the donkey died and Balarama flung the
dead body on the tala trees.
Many other daityas in the form of donkeys also arrived. But Krishna
and Balarama killed all of them.
The tala grove became safe and cattle began to graze there once again.
The Killing of Pralamba
After killing Dhenukasura, Krishna and Balarama reached a banyan
tree. They played and plucked flowers. They wore garlands. Ropes for tying
cattle were round their shoulders. Their clothes were in golden and black
hues.
Sometimes they rode on swings, sometimes they wrestled, sometimes
they flung stones.
An asura known as Pralamba adopted the form of a cowherd and
joined the games. Pralamba thought that Krishna might be too strong to kill,
so he decided to kill Balarama. The boys were playing at a special sort of
race then. Two boys would race up to a point and whoever was the loser
would have to run again with the winner on his shoulders. Krishna defeated
Shridama at this race. And when Balarama and Pralamba raced, Balarama
defeated Pralamba. This meant that Pralamba would have to carry Balarama
upon his shoulders. But as soon as Balarama got up on pralamba’s
shoulders, Pralamba began to run away. He adopted the size of a huge
mountain and his eyes were as large as cart-wheels.
Balarama cried out. “Krishna, I am being kidnapped. What will I do?”
“Why ask me,” Krishna replied. “You are strong enough. Kill the
asura.”
Balaramas eyes became red with anger. He beat down on the asura’s
head with his fists and the asura died. Blood flowed out of his mouth.
Govardhana
This happened one autumn.
The cowherds decided to have a yqjna to honour Indra. Indra was the
ruler of the waters and it was he who sent the clouds. Without the clouds
there would be no rain and without rain there would be no grain. What
would the cattle eat in that case? This was the reason why the cowherds
wanted to worship Indra.
But Krishna told Nanda, “Father, we are not farmers or traders. We live
through animal husbandry, we live in the forests. Our gods should be cattle
and the mountains. Let us stop this worship of Indra and let us instead
worship the mountain Govardhana.”
Nanda and the other cowherds agreed to this and that was how giri
Yajna (mountain ceremony) started. Curds, rice pudding and meat were
offered to the mountain. Hundreds and thousands of brahmanas and guests
were fed.
But Indra was very angry because his yajna had been stopped and he
called the clouds to him. “Listen to what I say,” he instructed them.
“Destroy the cattle with rain and wind. I will come on Airavata and pour
down rain as well.”
Wind and rain started. The clouds were everywhere. There was
lightning, and thunder and heavy rain. The world became dark and there
was water everywhere. Cows and calves began to die.
Krishna had to do something to protect these unfortunate beings. So he
uprooted Govardhana mountain and held it aloft like an umbrella. The
entire mountain was thus balanced on only one of Krishna’s hands. The
cowherds and the cattle took refuge under the mountain and in the holes
that were there. For seven nights Indra showered down rain. But after that
he gave up and Krishna returned the mountain to original place.
Having been defeated in his purpose, Indra appeared before Krishna.
“You have saved the cattle,” he said. “You are like their Indra. Therefore,
from now on, you will be known as Govinda.”
Indra took down a bell from Airavata’s neck. He filled it with holy
water and anointed Krishna. And he said, “My son Arjuna has been born on
earth. Please look after him and take care of him.”
Krishna assured Indra that he would do so. The two embraced and
parted ways.
Various Exploits
By then the cowherds had realised that Krishna was no ordinary man.
They were slightly scared, but Krishna comforted them and told them that
he was their friend.
One day, an asura known as Arishta arrived there. This asura had the
form of a bull. The bull was dark as the clouds. The horns were sharp and
pointed and his eyes were bright as the sun. He tore up the ground with his
hooves. He was so tall that it was impossible to climb over him. This bull
used to kill the calves and the sages.
Everyone was frightened at Arishta’s arrival. But Krishna clapped his
hands. On hearing the sound of the clap, Arishta charged at Krishna with
horns lowered. Krishna grasped the horns and stopped the bull. Then he hit
Arishta with his thighs. Finally, he tore off one of the horns and attacked
Arishta with it. The daitya vomited blood and died.
Narada related all of Krishna’s exploits to Kansa and Kansa was
enraged. He decided that Balarama and Krishna would have to be killed
before they became adults. Kansa had two strong wrestlers known as
Chanura and Mushtika. He plotted to have a wrestling match between
Balarama and Krishna and these two wrestlers, and thereby kill the two
brothers off. The occasion for this wrestling match would be a yajna that
Kansa would arrange. He would therefore send Akrura to Gokula to bring
Balarama and Krishna to Mathura. In addition, he would send an asura
known as Keshi to try and kill the two brothers in Gokula itself. A strong
elephant called Kubalayapida would also be let loose on the brothers.
Keshi adopted the form of a horse and went to Vrindavana. He tore up
the earth with his hooves, he shook the clouds with his mane and he
attacked the sun and the moon on his way to Vrindavana. The cowherds
were naturally frightened.
But Krishna was there to protect them. He inserted his hands into the
horse’s mouth and broke off the horse’s teeth. Like white clouds, one by
one the teeth fell down on the ground. After that, Krishna tore off the
asura’s lips and the asura began to vomit blood. His eyes fell off. Krishna
then tore Keshi into two with his hands. Because Krishna killed Keshi, he
came to be known as Keshava.
Meanwhile, Akrura arrived in Gokula and told Balarama and Krishna
of Kansa’s invitation. The two brothers accepted the invitation and resolved
to go to Mathura. The cowherds were naturally sorry to see Krishna go.
They thought that he would never return to Gokula again. In a chariot,
Akrura, Balarama and Krishna set out for Mathura.
Mathura and Kansa
They reached Mathura in the evening. Akrura went ahead to the palace
in the chariot, while Balarama and Krishna entered the city on foot. On the
streets they met a washerman. They asked the washerman for some nice
clothes. But the washerman was Kansa’s servant. Not only did he refuse
them the clothes, he also abused the two brothers. So Krishna hit the evil
washerman with his palm and split his head in two. Balarama and Krishna
then took away whatever clothes they wanted. Balarama dressed in blue and
Krishna dressed in yellow.
They then went to the house of a garland-seller. The garland-seller
thought that these two were gods. And when Balarama and Krishna asked
for flowers, not only did he give them many flowers, he also worshipped
them. Krishna blessed the garland-seller.
On the streets they also met a young woman. The woman was pretty,
but had a hump on her back. Her name was Kubja. She carried a salver of
sandalwood paste in her hands.
“For whom is this paste ?.” asked Krishna.
“This is for Kansa,” was the reply. “He has appointed me to make
fragrant paste for him.”
“Please give us the paste,” said Krishna. “This paste is fit for our
bodies.”
Kubja complied and Balarama and Krishna rubbed the paste on their
bodies. Then Krishna grasped Kubja’s chin with his index and middle
fingers. He pressed down her feet with his own so that they did not move.
As he exerted pressure upwards, Kubja’s body straightened and the hump
disappeared. Kubja became a beautiful woman.
At the yajna that Kansa had arranged, a bow was to be worshipped.
Krishna and Balarama asked various guards where this bow was being kept.
They arrived at that room and Krishna proceeded to tie a string to the bow.
But the bow snapped and the sound of the bow snapping was heard
throughout the palace. The guards came and attacked Krishna and
Balarama, but the two brothers killed all the guards.
By then, Kansa had got to know that Krishna and Balarama had come
to Mathura. So he called Chanura and Mushtika and told them to go and
wrestle with the two brothers and kill them. He also called the servant who
was in charge of his elephants. He told him to place the huge elephant
known as Kubalayapida at the main gate to the palace. It was night. After
issuing these instructions, Kansa waited for morning.
When it was morning, arrangements were made for the wrestling
match. There were ordinary seats for ordinary citizens around the arena
where the match was to take place. Kings and special guests had special
seats reserved for them. Kansa sat on the highest seat of all. The women sat
behind a partition. Amongst the spectators were Nanda and the cowherds,
Vasudeva, Akrura and Devaki.
Martial music started to be played. Chanura and Mushtika stood in the
middle of the arena, exhibiting their strength. Krishna and Balarama entered
the arena. At the main gate they had killed the elephant Kubalayapida and
they carried the bloody tusks in their hands.
The schedule was that Krishna would fight with Chanura and Balarama
would fight with Mushtika. The first wrestling match between Krishna and
Chanura began. It was a terrible bout to behold. Both were strong fighters.
But eventually, Krishna raised Chanura’s body aloft and whirled it around a
hundred times before throwing Chanura down on the ground. Chanura died.
Meanwhile Balarama had started to fight with Mushtika. He hit Mushtika’s
head and chest with his fists and thighs. And he grasped Mushtika so hard
that the breath of life went out of Mushtika’s body. Krishna also killed
another wrestler whose name was Toshalaka.
Kansa was very angry. He instructed his guards to capture Krishna and
Balarama and tie them up in iron chains. The guards were also to chain up
Vasudeva and the cowherds.
But Krishna merely laughed. He jumped up on the stage where Kansa
was sitting and caught hold of Kansa’s hair. He threw Kansa down on the
ground and Kansa, the son of Ugrasena, died. Krishna pulled the dead body
down to the arena. Kansa’s body was so heavy that a huge pit was created
where the dead body was placed.
Kansa had a brother called Sumali and Sumali attacked Krishna and
Balarama. But Balarama killed Sumali very easily. Krishna and Balarama
then went and met Vasudeva and Devaki.
Kansa had imprisoned his own father Ugrasena. Krishna released
Ugrasena from the prison and made him king. Krishna also obtained a
beautiful assembly hall named Sudharma from Indra. This he presented to
King Ugrasena.
Since Kansa was now dead, it was time for Krishna and Balarama to go
to their guru’s house for studying. Their guru was a sage named Sandipani,
who lived in Kashi. There Krishna and Balarama went to learn amongst
other things, the art of fighting. It took them only sixty-four days to learn all
this. After the shishya’s studies are completed he has to give a dakshina to
his guru. Sandipani’s son had died and as guru dakshina, Sandipani desired
that his dead son might be brought back to life.
After death, the sage Sandipani’s son had gone to the great ocean.
Krishna and Balarama took up their weapons and went to the ocean to
demand the son. The ocean told them that the son was actually with a daitya
named Panchajana who had the form of a conch-shell. Krishna entered the
ocean and killed it. From the skeleton of the daitya was made the conch-
shell Panchajanya that Krishna blows. To get back the dead son, Krishna
and Balarama also had to go to Yama’s world and defeat Yama. They did
that and returned the son to the sage Sandipani.
They then returned to Mathura.
Jarasandha
Kansa had married two of Jarasandh’s daughters. These daughters were
known as Asti and Prapti. On hearing that Krishna had killed his son-in-
law, Jarasandha raised a huge army and attacked the Yadavas. The city of
Mathura was under seize by the king of Magadha.
Krishna and Balarama had only a few soldiers, as compared to
Jarasandha’s gigantic army. But still they came out to fight. From the sky a
bow called Sharnga, two quivers that never ran out of arrows, and a mace
named Koumodaki fell into Krishna’s hands. For Balarama the weapons
were a plough and a club named Sounanda. Jarasandha was defeated by the
two brothers and he fled.
After a few days Jarasandha attacked once more and was defeated yet
again. This continued. There were eighteen occasions on which Jarasandha
attacked and was defeated by the Yadavas.
Kalayavana
There was a brahmana named Gargya who had been insulted and
ridiculed by the Yadavas. This brahmana went to the shores of the southern
ocean and began to perform tapasya. His desire was a son who would be
the scourge of the Yadavas. As part of the tapasya, he ate only iron dust for
food. The tapasya went on for twelve years and at the end of it, Mahadeva
was pleased. The brahmana obtained the desired boon.
The son who was born was black of hue. The king of the Yavanas had
no son and the brahmna’s son was adopted by the Yavana king. Eventually,
this son became the king of the Yavanas and came to be known as
Kalayavana.
Kalayavana wanted to know the names of all the powerful kings on
earth from Narada. He was told the names of the Yadava kings. So he
decided to attack the Yadavas. He collected thousands and thousands of
chariots, horses, elephants and infantry. Then he came to Mathura to wage
war.
Krishna was worried. He realised that the Yadavas would become
weakened from their war with Kalayavana. And if Jarasandha’s attack came
after that, the Yadavas might even lose at the hands of Jarasandha. On the
other hand, if the Yadavas became weak from a war with Jarasandha, they
might lose the war with Kalayavana. There was danger from both sides. It
was, therefore, necessary to build a strong fort from where the Yadavas
could wage a long drawn out war, even in the absence of Krishna. On the
shores of the ocean Krishna, therefore, built the city of Dvarka. There were
many gardens and lakes in Dvarka. But more importantly, it was surrounded
by walls and moats on all sides and there were several forts inside the city.
All the citizens of Mathura were brought to Dvarka.
Krishna then appeared before Kalayavana. At the sight of Krishna,
Kalayavana began to follow him, desirous of a fight. Krishna had a plan. He
went inside a cave where a powerful king known as Muchukunda was
sleeping. Kalayavana followed Krishna inside the cave. It was dark inside
so that Kalyavana could not make out that the person who was sleeping was
Muchukunda and not Krishna. So, thinking that it was Krishna, Kalayavana
kicked the body. When the king woke up, the anger in him came out as fire
through his eyes and this fire burnt up Kalayavana into ashes.
Many years ago, King Muchukunda had taken part in a fight between
the devas and the asuras. After killing many asuras Muchukunda was tired.
He craved a boon from the gods that he might sleep for a long period of
time. The devas granted the boon and also said that whoever woke up
Muchukunda would be burnt into ashes by the flames that would come out
of the king’s body.
Having burnt up Kalayavana, King Muchukunda came out of the cave
and found that people were now much shorter than they used to be. He
realised that the kali era must have arrived and went off to do tapasya on
Mount Gandhamadana.
Kalayavana’s soldiers were defeated by Krishna.
Balarama and the River Yamuna
Now that there was peace, Balarama went on a trip to Gokula. There he
met all his old friends and thoroughly enjoyed himself.
One day he found that there was wine issuing out of a kadamba tree.
Balarama drank a lot of the wine and became drunk. Since he was drunk he
had lost control of his senses. He, therefore, told the river Yamuna, “River
Yamuna, I feel like having a bath. Change your course and come here so
that I may fulfil my desire.”
Yamuna ignored this instruction. At this, Balarama was enraged and
took up his plough. With his plough he grasped the river and pulled her
towards himself. “You won’t come, will you?”, he said. “Let me see how
you can flow where you wish.”
The course of the river was changed.
Yamuna appeared before Balarama and begged for forgiveness.
This was granted.
When Balarama’s bath was over, Lakshmi appeared before him and
gave him a garland of lotuses which never fade. She also gave him two
pieces of blue clothing.
Balarama returned to Dvarka after having spent two months in Gokula.
He married King Raivata’s daughter Revati and had two sons named
Nishatha and Ulmuka.
Rukmini and Rukmi
There was a king named Bhishmaka who ruled in the kingdom of
Kundina. The king had a son named Rukmi and a daughter named Rukmini.
Krishna and Rukmini wished to marry each other. But Rukmi did not like
Krishna, so he refused to get his sister married off to Krishna.
Bhishmaka was also an ally of Jarasandha’s. So he agreed with Rukmi
and decided to marry his daughter to Shishupala. All these allies of
Jarasandha’s went to Kundina to witness the marriage and Krishna and the
Yadavas also went there. But one day before the marriage was due to take
place, Krishna abducted Rukmini.
Thereupon several kings like Poundraka, Dantavakra, Viduratha,
Shishupala, Jarasandha and Shalva attacked the Yadavas so as to kill
Krishna. But they were defeated by Balarama and the other Yadavas.
Rukmi resolved, “I will not return to Kundina without killing Krishna.”
He followed Krishna with many soldiers, horses, elephants, and chariots.
But Krishna easily defeated Rukmi.
When-Krishna was about to kill Rukmi, Rukmini said, “I have only
one brother. Please spare his life.”
Krishna spared Rukmi’s life. But Rukmi had resolved that he would not
return to Kundina without killing Krishna. So he had to build a new city
known as Bhojakata where he began to live.
Krishna married Rukmini according to the rakshasa form of marriage.
They had a son called Pradyumna who was kidnapped by Shambarasura as
soon as he was born. But later, Pradyumna was to kill Shambarasura.
“Tell me this story,” asked Maitreya of Parashara.
Shambarasura knew that Pradyumna was destined to kill him. So six
days after Pradyumna’s birth, he kidnapped the newly born baby and threw
it into the ocean. The ocean was full of sharks and crocodiles. The baby
might have died, but a fish swallowed it up and the baby was saved. Later
on, some fishermen caught the fish and brought it to Shambarasura’s
kitchen.
Shambarasura had a housekeeper named Mayavati. When the fish was
cut, Mayavati found the baby inside. She was very surprised. “Who is this
boy and how did he come to be here?,” she wondered. She went to Narada
to find out who the boy was and Narada told her the entire story. He also
told her to ensure that the boy was brought up properly.
This Mayavati proceeded to do. She was well versed in the techniques
of maya or illusions and these she taught to Pradyumna. When Pradyumna
grew up, she told him the entire story of his birth and kidnapping. Hearing
this, Pradyumna challenged Shambarasura to a duel. Shambarasura used a
lot of maya, but thanks to Mayavati, Pradyumna had also learnt the use of
maya. So he did manage to kill Shambarasura.
After this, Pradyumna and Mayavati returned to Krishna and Rukmini.
Everyone was happy and Pradyumna married Mayavati.
Apart from Pradyumna, Krishna and Rukmini had eight other sons and
a daughter. And apart from Rukmini, Krishna had seven other major wives.
Their names were Kalindi, Mitravinda, Satya, Jambavati or Rohini, Sushila,
Satyabhama and Lakshmana. The total number of Krishna’s wives was
sixteen thousand.
Pradyumna married King Rukmi’s daughter and had a son named
Aniruddha. Aniruddha married Rukmi’s grand-daughter. On the occasion of
this marriage, Krishna, Balarama and the other Yadavas arrived at Rukmi’s
capital Bhojakata.
After the marriage was over, some kings told Rukmi, “Balarama is
addicted to playing dice, although he cannot play it at all well. Why not
arrange match of dice in which we can defeat Balarama?”
Rukmi agreed to this proposition and a match was arranged in which
Rukmi played with Balarama. In the first round, Rukmi won four thousand
gold pieces off Balarama. This happened a second time and a third time as
well. At this, the king of Kalinga and Rukmi began to laugh at Balarama.
Balarama got angry and placed four crores of gold pieces as a bet.
Rukmi threw the dice, but this time Balarama won.
“1 have won.” said Balarama.
“No, you haven’t”, replied Rukmi. “You did place the bet, but I did not
accept it. So you have not really won.”
Words were then heard from heaven which said that it was Balarama
who was in the right. Although Rukmi had not verbally accepted the bet, his
throwing of the dice meant that the bet was acceptable to him.
This roused Balarama’s anger and he picked up a dice and killed
Rukmi with it. He also caught hold of the king of Kalinga and broke off the
king’s teeth. It was with these teeth that the king of Kalinga had laughed at
Balarama. Many were the other kings whom Balarama killed on this
occasion.
The Killing of Narakasura
Once Indra came on elephant Airavata to Dvarka. He met Krishna and
complained about the behaviour of a daitya named Narakasura.
This Narakasura was the son of Prithivi and the king of
Pragjyotishapura. He was oppressing all living beings. He was kidnapping
the daughters of devas, asuras and kings and imprisoning them in his
house. Naraka had also stolen Varuna’s umbrella from which the rains
came, and the peak of Mount Mandara. In addition he had robbed Indra’s
mother Aditi of her earrings and was now threatening to steal Airavata.
Krishna decided to do something about Narakasura. He thought of
Garuda and immediately, Garuda appeared before him. Krishna and
Satyabhama got onto Garuda and flew towards Pragjyotishapura. There was
an asura named Muru who had installed many sharp stakes around
Naraka’s city. But Krishna sliced off these stakes with his sudarshana
chakra. And when Muru attacked him, Krishna killed Muru and his seven
thousand sons with the chakra. He also killed two others, Hayagriva and
Panchajana, and arrived at Pragjyotishapura.
A terrible war raged between the armies of Narakasura and Krishna.
Krishna killed thousands and thousands of asuras and sliced Narakasura in
two with his chakra.
Inside Narakasura’s palace Krishna found sixteen thousand and one
hundred women whom Narakasura had imprisoned. There were also several
horses and six thousand elephants with four tusks each. All of these Krishna
sent to Dvarka. Krishna put the other things that Naraka had stolen on
Garuda and proceeded towards heaven to return them to their rightful
owners.
The Taking of Parijata
Krishna arrived at the gates of heaven and blew upon his conch shell.
The gods came out to worship Krishna. Krishna first went to Aditi’s house
and returned her earrings. Aditi blessed Satyabhama and gave her the boon
that Satyabhama would never grow old or ugly, she would be in a state of
perpetual youth.
Aditi also told Indra to worship Krishna. But Indra’s wife Shachi
thought that Satyabhama was a mere human, so she did not give
Satyabhama any parijata flowers, although she wore them herself.
Krishna and Satyabhama went for a stroll in the gardens and there they
saw the parijata tree. The leaves of the tree were of copper colour and the
bark was of gold. Satyabhama said, “Why don’t you take this tree to
Dvarka?” And she persisted, “If you really love me, please take this tree to
our house. I will wear the flowers on my hair.”
Krishna laughed. He uprooted the tree and placed it on Garuda’s back.
The guards said, “Please don’t take this tree. It belongs to Shachi, the wife
of Indra.” They also pointed out that the taking of the tree would arouse the
wrath of the gods.
At this, Satyabhama grew angry. “Who is Indra and who is Shachi?”,
she said. “This tree came out of the churning of the ocean, so it belongs to
everyone. Why should Indra alone enjoy it? My husband is taking away this
tree, go and tell Shachi this. Let me see if her husband can prevent it from
happening. Go and tell Shachi that a mere human is taking the tree away.”
The guards went and told Shachi what was happening. Incited by
Shachi, Indra attacked Krishna with all the soldiers that the gods could
muster. Indra had his vajra for a weapon, the other devas had clubs, swords,
maces, and spears. On seeing Indra on Airavata, Krishna blew on his conch
shell and let loose thousands and thousands of arrows. The gods flung many
weapons at him, but Krishna repelled all these weapons. Garuda also helped
in the fight. With a mace Krishna destroyed Yama’s weapon. With his
chakra he destroyed Kubera’s palanquin. With a glance he robbed the sun
of all energy. Agni was defeated with Krishna’s arrows. The vasus, the
rudras, the maruts and the gandharvas had to flee.
Indra and Krishna fought with each other while Garuda fought with
Airavata. Indra finally took up his vajra and Krishna took up his chakra.
Everyone in the three worlds were frightened because the worlds might be
annihilated. But when Indra hurled his vajra, Krishna simply caught the
weapon in his hand. He did not fling the chakra. Indra started to run away.
Satyabhama taunted him. “Indra, king of the gods, why are you running
away?,” she said. “Aren’t you Shachi’s husband? fleeing does not become
you! Don’t run away. Here, take the parijata tree. Let the minds of the gods
be at rest.”
Indra then apologised for all that had happened. He also said that there
was no shame in losing to Krishna. For Krishna was, after all, nothing but
Vishnu.
Krishna smiled and returned the parijata tree, as well as Indra’s vajra.
But Indra refused to take the tree back. He requested Krishna to take the
tree to Dvarka. Once Krishna died, the tree would return on its own to
heaven. This Krishna agreed to do and the tree got the pride of place in
Krishna’s garden in Dvarka. All the Yadavas came to see it.
Narakasura’s elephants, horses and other wealth had also been brought
to Dvarka. The sixteen thousand and one hundred women that Narakasura
had imprisoned had come to Dvarka. Krishna married all of them.
Usha and Vanasura
Krishna had more than one lakh and eighty thousand sons. But the best
of them was Pradyumna and Pradyumna’s son was Aniruddha.
Vali’s son was Vanasura and Vanasura’s daughter was Usha. Usha once
met Parvati and Shiva. She asked Parvati who her husband would be.
Parvati replied that in the month of Vaishakha a person would appear in
Usha’s dreams. And this person would be her husband.
As promised by Parvati, Usha did see a person in her dreams. But she
did not know who this person was. She told her friend Chitralekha about
this. Chitralekha thought that the only way to find out was to show Usha the
portraits of various important personages amongst the devas, gandharvas
and asuras. But the required person could not be identified from these
portraits. Usha was then shown the portraits of humans and immediately
she identified Aniruddha.”
Many years ago, Vanasura had prayed to Mahadeva, he had said,
“please grant me fights. I have ten thousand arms. What will I do with all
these arms if I don’t get a chance to fight?”
“Be patient,” replied Mahadeva. “One day you will find your flag lying
broken. When that happens, you will get the opportunity to fight as much as
you wish.”
At this Vanasura was happy.
Meanwhile, once Aniruddha’s identity had been established.
Chitralekha wondered what could be done. She went to Dvarka and secretly
brought Aniruddha to meet Usha. That was the very day on which Vanasura
found his flag lying broken. The guards also came and informed him that
Aniruddha was with Usha. Vanasura sent his soldiers to fight with
Aniruddha, but Aniruddha killed them all with a club.
Then Vanasura himself entered the fray. Initially, he was beaten by
Aniruddha. But he used maya to tie Aniruddha up.
Narada went to Dvarka and told the Yadavas this. So Krishna,
Balarama and Pradyumna came to rescue Aniruddha. Many were the
soldiers that Krishna killed before entering the city. Also at the gate was a
demon known as Jvara, a demon with a huge body, three arms and three
legs. This demon had been born out of Mahadeva’s body. The demon was
so powerful that it even caused Balarama some discomfort. But Krishna
created a demon from his own body which killed the demon Jvara.
Krishna killed many asura soldiers. Vanasura himself came out to
fight. Mahadeva and Kartikeya fought on Vana’s side and Vanasura’s
chariot was driven by Nandi. Terrible was the war between Krishna and
Mahadeva and everyone thought that the world would come to an end. But
Krishna tired out Mahadeva. Pradyumna defeated Kartikeya, and Balarama
killed many of Vanasura’s soldiers. Krishna and Vanasura shot arrows at
each other. Then Krishna took up his sudharshana chakra and sliced off all
Vanasura’s arms. But when he was about to kill Vanasura, Mahadeva
intervened and begged for Vana’s life. This boon Krishna granted.
At the end of the war, Aniruddha and Usha too returned to Dvarka with
the other Yadavas.
The Slaying of Poundraka
There was a king named Poundraka who suffered from the illusion that
he was Krishna, the incarnation of Vishnu on earth. He adopted the name of
Vasudeva and sent a messenger to Krishna saying, “Stop pretending that
you are Vishnu. It is I who am Vasudeva. Come to me and beg for your
life.”
Poundraka was a friend of the king of Kashi. Krishna told the
messenger that he would leave for Kashi the very next day.
Hearing the message, Poundraka got ready with his army. Krishna
arrived in Kashi on Garuda. Krishna killed the enemy soldiers with hfs
arrows, mace and chakra. He sliced Poundraka’s body with his chakra and
eventually killed him with a mace. He also killed Poundraka’s friend, the
king of Kashi. He cut off the king’s head with his arrows and flung it into
the city of Kashi. After that, Krishna returned to Dvarka.
When the head of the king of Kashi fell inside the city, the inhabitants
were surprised at this strange phenomenon. But the king’s son found out
that Krishna was responsible for this and prayed to Mahadeva. When as a
result of the yajna Mahadeva appeared before him, the son begged. “Please
create a demon that will kill Krishna, my father’s murderer.”
Mahadeva agreed and created such a demon from the fire of the yajna.
This demon arrived in Dvarka wishing to kill Krishna. Flames issued out of
its mouth and its hair was also like fire. Krishna flung his sudarshana
chakra at the demon. The demon turned and ran, but wherever the demon
went, the chakra followed. Finally, the demon arrived in Kashi. But the
chakra followed it there and burnt up the entire city. All the kings, servants,
horses, elephants and cattle there were burnt.
Having achieved its purpose, the chakra returned to Krishna.
Shamba's Wedding
Krishna’s son Shamba wanted to marry Duryodhana’s daughter. He
kidnapped her. But Karna, Duryodhana, Bhishma, Drona and other warriors
fought with Shamba and managed to imprison him. On learning the news,
the Yadavas got ready to fight with the Kauravas.
But Balarama restrained the Yadavas. “Leave it to me,” he said. “Let
me go alone. The Kauravas will listen to me and will let Shamba go.”
Balarama went to Hastinapura but did not enter the city. Duryodhana
and the others learnt of this and came to pay their respects. Balarama then
told them that King Ugrasena had requested that Shamba might be released.
But this request made the Kauravas angry. “Balarama, what are you
saying?”, they asked. “How dare the Yadavas order the Kauravas?”. This is
a bit like a servant ordering a master.
Refusing to release Shamba, the Kauravas returned to Hastinapura.
This angered Balarama. He grasped the foundations of Hastinapura city
with his plough and prepared to hurl the city into the Bhagirathi river. This
brought the Kauravas to their senses and they begged for forgiveness.
Shamba and his wife were brought to Balarama and he forgave the
Kauravas. Ever since that day, Hastinapura leans towards the river on one
side.
The Death of Dvivida
The asura known as Naraka was opposed to the devas. And Naraka had
a monkey friend named Dvivida. Dvivida fought with the devas and
became particularly belligerent after Naraka was killed by Krishna. He
destroyed all the yajnas and persecuted the sages. He also destroyed cities,
villages and forests. He even tore up mountains and flung them into the
ocean. The ocean overflowed and flooded cities and villages.
One day, Balarama was busy drinking in a garden. Dvivida arrived
there and began to make a general nuisance of himself. He picked up
Balarama’s plough and club. And despite Balarama’s warning him, he
continued to laugh at him. Greatly angered, Balarama picked up his club
and the monkey also picked up a huge boulder. Balarama broke up the
monkey’s boulder with his club. The monkey then began to hit Balarama on
the chest. But Balarama brought down his fists on the monkey’s head and
the monkey died.
The End of the Yadavas
There was a place of pilgrimage known as Pindaraka. Some Yadava
youths once met the sages Kanva, Vishvamitra and Narada there. The
Yadava youths dressed Shamba up as a woman and brought him to the
sages. “Sages,” they asked, “tell us whether this woman will have a son or a
daughter.”
The sages saw through the game and were angered at the insult. “This
person will give birth to a club.” they said. “And that club will destroy your
clan.”
In due course a club came out of Shamba’s body. But learning of the
curse, King Ugrasena pulverised the club and had the dust scattered in the
ocean. But the dust got changed into sharp reeds that grew on the shores of
the ocean.
A small part of the club could not be crushed. This was thrown into the
ocean as it was, and a fish swallowed this piece. When the fish was caught,
this piece of the club came out of the fish’s stomach and a hunter named
Jara acquired the piece.
There was a place of pilgrimage known as Prabhasa and eventually the
Yadavas went there. Only one Yadava named Uddhava went off to do
tapasya on Mount Gandhamadana. In Prabhasa, the Yadavas began to drink
and soon lost all control of their senses. They started to fight and picked up
the reeds that were growing on the shores as weapons. Krishna did try to
restrain them, but the Yadavas were in no mood to listen. Soon, Krishna and
Daruka were the only Yadavas who were left alive.
Krishna and Daruka were wandering around and found Balarama
seated under a tree. A huge snake came out of Balarama’s mouth and
disappeared into the sea. This meant that Balarama had died.
Krishna told Daruka. “Go and tell King Ugrasena all this. Soon I too
will die. And soon the sea will swallow up the city of Dvarka. Go and tell
the Yadavas who are left in Dvarka that they should wait for Arjuna’s
arrival and that they should leave the city with Arjuna. And go and tell
Arjuna to protect my people as best as he can. Vajra is to be made the king
of the Yadavas.”
Daruka paid his respects to Krishna and left.
Krishna sat down to meditate. The hunter named Jara arrived there. He
had fashioned an arrow-head out of the piece of the club. Seeing Krishna’s
feet, he thought that it was part of a deer and let loose an arrow. When he
came up to see what had happened, he found that his arrow had pierced the
body of a man. He begged for forgiveness and Krishna assured him that
Jara would go to heaven. In fact, a chariot immediately arrived to take Jara
to heaven.
Krishna died. He was a hundred years old.
Arjuna found the dead bodies of Krishna, Balarama and other
important Yadavas and performed their shraddha ceremonies. Krishna’s
eight major wives died on Krishna’s funeral pyre. Revati did the same on
Balarama’s. Ugrasena, Rohini, Devaki and Vasudeva also entered a fire.
The others left Dvarka with Arjuna.
As soon as Krishna died, the parijata tree and the assembly hall named
Sudharma returned to heaven. The kali era began. And the city of Dvarka
was swallowed up by the sea, with the exception of Krishna’s own
dwelling.
Arjuna settled some of the Yadavas in the Punjab. But when he was
taking the Yadava women with him, the party was set upon by a band of
dacoits. Arjuna tried to repel the dacoits but found that he had lost all his
powers. His strength had left him with Krishna’s death.
This is the end of the fifth section of the Vishnu Purana.
The Kali Era
Maitreya wanted to know more about the kali era.
In the kali era, the norms of varna and ashrama will not be followed as
is laid down in the Vedas. No one will pray to the gods. Relations between
guru and shishya will cease. Might will be right. Women will all the time
take care of their hair. Wealth will mean everything. Instead of spending
money on dharma, people will spend money on building houses. Money
will be spent for oneself and not for guests. Men will be selfish. Money will
be earned through evil means. There will be drought.
Men will not bathe before having their meals. Both men and women
will become shorter. Women will not obey their husbands. The kings will
not take care of their subjects, but will only impose taxes. People will
become old when they reach the age of twelve and no one will live for more
than twenty years. Evil will flourish. No one will worship Vishnu. All the
classes will become like shudras.
There is only one good thing about kali yuga. In satya yuga one had to
do a lot of tapasya to earn some punya. In kali yuga the same punya can be
acquired through a little tapasya. The equivalence is like this. Ten years of
tapasya in satya yuga are equal to one year of tapasya in treta yuga, one
month of tapasya in dvapara yuga and one day of tapasya in kali yuga.
Vyasadeva said that shudras and women are fortunate. The other
varnas have to do many things to ensure that dharma is being followed. But
for the shudras the path of dharma is simple. They only have to serve the
other varnas to acquire punya. Similarly men have to do many things to
achieve punya. For women, the attainment of punya is easy; they only have
to serve their husbands.
Destruction
There are three types of pralaya or destruction, the first being brahma
or naimittika. Naimittika pralaya takes place after a kalpa, that is, after one
of Brahma’s days and after fourteen Manus have passed. Before this
pralaya, the earth becomes weak and there are no rains for a hundred years.
Vishnu adopts the form of Rudra and drinks up all the water that there is in
the rivers, the oceans, the seas and the mountains. The seven rays of the sun
manifest themselves as seven different suns. These suns burn up the three
worlds. Not only is bhuloka burnt up, but bhuvarloka and svarloka are also
destroyed. There are dark and thick clouds everywhere. For a hundred years
it continues to rain. All is darkness. For a hundred years the winds blow.
And Vishnu sleeps on the waters that are everywhere till the worlds are
created again.
The second type of destruction is known as prakrita pralaya. The three
basic gunas are, as you know, sattva, rajas and tamas. Their perfect balance
is known as prakriti. At the time of destruction when prakriti becomes
assimilated into the paramatman, that is known as prakrita pralaya. The
third type of pralaya is known as atyatika pralaya. This refers to the
disappearance of three types of distress, adhyatmika, adhidaivika and
adhibhoutika. Adhyatmika distress consists of physical and mental ailments
like fever and sadness. Adhidaivika distress is that due to the elements, such
as coldness and heat. Adhibhoutika distress is that which humans face from
other living beings, such as ghosts and snakes. At the time of atyantika
destruction, these distresses also disappear.
Keshidhvaja and Khandikya
Many years ago there was a king named Dharmadhvaja. He had two
sons, Mitadhvaja and Kritadhvaja. Kritadhvaja was interested in acquiring
knowledge and his son Keshidhvaja also became interested in acquiring
spiritual knowledge. Mitadhvaja’s son Khandikya was a king, interested in
karma yoga, that is, union with God through action.
Both Khandikya and Keshidhvaja tried to outdo each other. Khandikya
eventually lost his kingdom to Keshidhvaja and went off to the forest with
his priests and ministers. Although he became a king, Keshidhvaja used to
perform yajnas. Once the cow intended for the yajna was eaten up by a
tiger. This was a sin and Keshidhvaja had to atone for it. He asked several
sages what the form of penance (prayashchitta) should be, but none of the
sages knew. They all said that the right person to ask was Khandikya, who
was now living in the forest.
Keshidhavaja dressed himself up in deerskin and went to meet
Khandikya. Thinking that Keshidhvaja might have come to kill him,
Khandikya took up his bow and arrow. But Keshidhvaja told him that he
had merely come to ask Khandikya a question. Khandikya told him what
the right penance was and Keshidhvaja successfully completed the yajna.
But he then realised that he had not given Khandikya the dakshina or
fee that was due to a guru. As dakshina, Khandikya desired that
Keshidhvaja instruct him on the path to spiritual knowledge.
Keshidhvaja told Khandikya about the true nature of the atman, which
was different from the mere physical body. True knowledge was that which
taught that the atman was part of the paramatman and that one should
therefore not get attached to material possessions. This realisation came
about through the practise of yoga.
How the Puranas Came Down to us
At the end, the Vishnu Purana narrates how the Puranas came to be
handed down to us through generations of disciples.
The Puranas tell men of the ways to attain moksha (salvation). Ages
ago, Brahma himself had told the sage Ribhu the story of the Puranas.
From Ribhu the knowledge had passed to Priyavrata and from Priyavrata to
Bhaguri. Bhaguri gave the knowledge to Stavamitra and Stavamitra to
Dadhichi. From Dadhichi it passed to Sarasvata, from Sarasvata to Bhrigu,
from Bhrigu to Purukutsa, from Purukutsa to Narmada, from Narmada to
Dhritarashtra and Purana. Dhritarashtra and Purana gave the knowledge to
Vasuki, Vasuki to Vatsa and Vatsa to Ashvatara. Ashvatara passed it on to
Kambala and Kambala to Elapatra.
The sage Vedashira acquired the knowledge of the Puranas from the
underworld and gave it to Pramati, Pramati gave it to Jatukarna and
Jatukarna passed it on to many sages.
Parashara had learnt of the Puranas from Vashishtha and he had now
passed on the knowledge to Maitreya. Maitreya would eventually teach it to
Shamika.
So ends the sixth and final section of the Vishnu Purana.
I hope you have enjoyed reading the stories. But please remember that there
is no substitute for reading the Vishnu Purana in the original.
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